Fee education.

A basic problem with delivering a better higher education system is funding. Since the Second World War higher education, just as secondary and primary schools, has been considered as a public good, and so in most OECD countries the service had to be delivered free of charge to students through taxation. However, tighter public budgets and stiffer global competition for talent have led to a renewed interest in student fees as a possible way of raising more funding. The issue poses several tricky challenges, about access, equity, student finance, debt, and so on. Little wonder the debate has become rather heated in several countries.

One country that is introducing higher fees for higher education is the UK. It started to do this for full-time undergraduates in 1998 and will introduce further changes from September 2006. What have the effects been and what are the challenges?

Interview with Bill Rammell, UK Minister for Lifelong Learning, Further and Higher Education.