Tuition fee no barrier

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31 oktober 2011 | A German expert group analyzed the impact of the tuition fee introduction in Baden-Württemberg. The results: tuition fees do not affect student numbers, mobility, socio-economic background or study choice. A possible insight for other countries, like a not so united Kingdom?

Only 4 out of 16 German Bundesländer continue charging theirstudents tuition fees of between €750 and €1000 per year. The newGreen-Social Democrat government in Baden-Württemberg considersscrapping them following a country wide trend of returning to freeeducation.

Student numbers up

A recent report by an expert group, however, now castsdoubts on the argument that higher tuition fees scare awaystudents. In the “Bericht des Monitoring-Beirats Studiengebühren”the authors state that “an analysis of the data showed that despitethe introduction of tuition fees student numbers inBaden-Württemberg had increased. Furthermore, there was no changein the average socio-economic background of students.”

Fears that students would start moving to other Bundesländerwith free education had been refuted. There was also no change seenregarding the study program choice students made when startingtheir studies. The report therefore is not very useful orwelcome for the new regional government, who had promised inits electioncampaign to do away with tuition fees.

Insight for a not so united Kingdom

The “Monitoring-Beirat Studiengebühren” was created in 2006 justbefore the then conservative government introduced tuition fees inBaden-Württemberg. The area itself is one of Germany’s business andresearch hotspots featuring renowned institutes like HeidelbergUniversity.

Whether the results of the now published report can begeneralized is a point fo discussio. And debate on tuition fees isa European issue, not just in the netherlands where a fee-rise isintroduced for students who ‘overstay their welcome’inHE. Recently, England and Scotland too foughtover tuition fee policy. England had tripled its tuition feestriggering fears that Scottish universities would then be floodedwith English applicants. In response, the Scottish government introduced exclusive tuition fees for Englishstudents.