§ 3. Mr. Phil Willis (Harrogate and Knaresborough)What plans he has to allow students attending English, Welsh and Northern Irish universities on approved undergraduate courses of more than three years' duration to be exempt from paying fees in the fourth year. [40035]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Dr. Kim Howells)Under our planned funding arrangements, financial support for students' fees will be dependent on income. Full-time undergraduates who come from lower-income families in England, Wales and Northern Ireland will be exempt from paying fees in the fourth year at any United Kingdom university.
§ Mr. WillisI am grateful for that response. However, does the Minister agree that the Government's haste in 848 requiring students to pay tuition fees from this year has caused a financial and bureaucratic nightmare for universities offering courses of more than three years' duration, which supply courses to 90,000 students? What justification can he give for exempting medical students in year five of a course, but not in year four, or for exempting from fees postgraduate certificate of education students who will work primarily in secondary education, but not students studying for a four-year honours degree?
What justification can there be for providing absolutely no fee exemption for students studying architecture on a six-year course? Is it not right that all students should be treated equitably?
§ Dr. HowellsNo, I do not believe that it is. Moreover, the nightmare described by the hon. Gentleman has not yet been communicated to us. Not one university has told us that it is suffering from a bureaucratic nightmare. I suspect that the nightmare is entirely in the minds of Liberal Democrat Members.
§ Ms Sally Keeble (Northampton, North)As student fees have increased people's interest in university degrees, will my hon. Friend say whether there was any truth in the Financial Times article stating that the Government may change the criteria that colleges of higher education must meet to attain university status? Nene college, in my constituency, is extremely interested in getting university status and would like to know whether there has been any change in the Government's thinking on the matter.
§ Dr. HowellsNo. It is a subject that we are looking at carefully. At present, we have no plans to change the way in which the criteria are judged and the title "university" is awarded to colleges.
§ Mr. Stephen Dorrell (Charnwood)In the nine months since the policy was announced last summer, has the Minister thought of a single reason of principle why students from England, Wales and Northern Ireland should be uniquely targeted to pay higher fees to Scottish universities than students from anywhere else in the European Union? Can he give me one single reason of principle to justify the Government's policy? In nine months, has the Minister been able to think of one?
§ Dr. Norman A. Godman (Greenock and Inverclyde)Remind him about the poll tax.
§ Dr. HowellsI could remind the right hon. Gentleman about the poll tax, but instead I shall attempt to answer his question. As he knows, education in Scotland is very different from that in England.
§ Dr. HowellsI shall tell the hon. Gentleman why. If he does not know, perhaps he should try reading sometimes. Scottish students study for the equivalent of A-levels for one year in Scotland instead of for two years in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. We believe that Scottish universities should recognise that—many of them do—and allow students to join courses in the second year if they have the proper qualifications to do so.