Published Thursday, June 26, 2008 at 09:33
by
rikkeindenmark 
(1576 views and 10 comments)
And now for something completely different – as Monty Python would say! I’m moving away from gender issues and on to a completely different topic, namely education.
I work in the university sector, where tuition fees are currently a burning hot topic for debate. In my home country we have a long tradition for free – or rather publicly funded – higher education. The argument is that when higher education is free everyone – regardless of social or economic background – has the opportunity to take a university degree. Basically, as Danes see it free education is a question of equality and equal access to education.
However, in globalization the Danish higher education model is challenged: Denmark is one of very few countries in the world which does not have tuition fees (correct me if I’m wrong, but I think there are only 10 countries worldwide with free higher education!). University education is increasingly becoming ‘internationalized’: more and more universities cooperate across borders to offer joint degrees; more and more students go abroad on exchange or take a full degree abroad, etc. With more cooperation across borders it gets more difficult for Denmark to stick with the ‘no fee’ policy – since many of the countries we cooperate with have fees. It’s a dilemma: How can a small country like Denmark continue with free higher education in globalization?
The argument for free higher education in Denmark is, basically, a social democratic one: Social class and parents’ income should not determine your career path. However, there might also be social democratic arguments against higher education. If you look at statistics it is mostly children of parents with a degree who go to university – it’s not the sons and daughters of unskilled workers. With a tax-funded system, like in Denmark, this means that poor people are actually paying for the university degrees of children from well-off families. If I am not completely mistaken this argument has been used a lot in the UK where tuition fees are full cost… but maybe there are some UK Yourspace readers who can enlighten me of this?
On the personal level I will argue for publicly funded higher education. If we start charging tuition fees, we will, in my view, consolidate the fact that children of particular socioeconomic backgrounds do not go to university: the class gap will be so big that it’s impossible to jump across! Further, we have, in Denmark, been discussing the so-called ‘knowledge economy’ for years and there’s a lot of focus on getting more young people to take a university degree. Tuition fees will, as I see it, be a significant barrier to achieving this goal.
At the same time one should also keep in mind that, at the end of the day and in spite of all the talk of 'free higher education', university education do cost money – professors and teachers need to be paid, buildings have to be heated and renovated and students need counseling and support. Funding is a necessity, especially if universities are to become more and more international. Hence, if we are to avoid tuition fees governments - and maybe even the EU - need to be willing to (continue to) subsidy.
Let me finish off this rather long post by making a proposal for the PES manifesto: I think the manifesto should mention universities and higher education. In its initiatives the European Commission often seems to favour fees – and in my view Europe’s socialist party needs to have a stand-point on this. How do social democrats, in the light of globalization, envision European education and its funding in the future?
Comments are welcome - shoot! :-)
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Comments
1. Not agree... by mlobo
on Thursday, June 26, 2008 at 12:15
Hi rikkeindenmark,
I'm nos agree with the free tuituion fees. Maybe in small countries can be possible, but it could be very difficult to aply in a 500 Millions of people country.
I thing it's better to make a strong system os scholarships, based on a double component , the personal incomes and the effort and the results in the studies. In this way, we are promoving acces to high studies to people with low incomes and by the other side, "excellent" people have an extra incentive to the best students.
PS. Sorry for my horrible english...
2. A bit too long a reply - I hope you get through it! by rikkeindenmark
on Thursday, June 26, 2008 at 14:05
Hi mlobo, thanks for your comment! Actually Germany, the biggest country in the EU, has been a tuition free zone until recently (a couple of years ago some of the German 'Bundesländern' allowed universities to charge 500 Eur pr semester) - so it is actually possible as a big country to go through with publicly funded university education. I don't think it's purely a 'thing' for small countries like my own :-) I see an extensive system of scholarships as the 'next-best' to direct public funding. However, I do see a few problems with the model you propose: scholarship-size based on income and grades: 1. What income should we look at - the income of the student or the student's parents? It's not many students who earn a lot of money, so I guess we need to turn to their parents' income if the criteria is to make sense. But still: What if the parents have a high income, but are not supportive of their child? Secondly, in my opinion such a model tends to make adult children highly dependent on their parents (since it's mum and dad that pay the tuition fee!). 2. Regarding the results in study I'm also a bit worried about rewarding people mainly for their efforts in high school. I know skilled university students who were not among the 'elite' in high school. They didn't realize until later that they wanted to go to university, but are now extremely motivated for their subjects of study. Such students might not get a scholarship. In my view that would be a real shame and a loss for society. Basically: We live in a society with an increasing need for highly skilled labour force - so why not support young people as much as possible to go to university? Anyhow, now I'm just repeating myself from the post :-)3. Instead to fees for student, research for development by capelo
on Friday, June 27, 2008 at 01:58
Hi rikkeindenmark. It is an interesting debate and I agree with you about the benefits of no tuition fees for higher education. It is true that there exist a high pressure to eliminate fees, not only to the access of higher education, but also to other public services, such as health system, water distribution, etc. In Spain some argue that no fee promotes that bad students can access university and decrease the quality of education. In my opinion this is wrong, because the quality of education is primarily due to the good selection of researchers and teachers. Moreover, countries such as Germany or Denmark have universities of high quality and no fees. What I do not understand is the pressure that small countries seem to have for cooperation. In Spain the tuition fees are similar to Germany (500-1000 € per year). Denmark, Germany and Spain have a population of near 155 million people. I think, but not sure, that most European countries have low fees and British education is more an exception in Europe. I am not sure, is that right? I think that universities should obtain economic benefits, not from students but from high-tech companies derived from research, the spin-off. Europe has a general gap with EEUU in high-tech companies. The effort for funding should focus on research with benefits to the society in a wide vision, from new therapeutics, new energies, new economic strategies, etc.4. sorry errata by capelo
on Friday, June 27, 2008 at 02:19
Sorry, the phrase “there exist a high pressure to eliminate fees” is not correct. Más bien “there exist a high pressure to implement fees”5. about tuituion fees or not by mlobo
on Friday, June 27, 2008 at 11:59
dear rikkeindenmark,
i wish to specify more aboy my proposal... My proposal includes two differents scholarships, One of them in function of the incomes (for paying the tuition fees) and the other one in funtions of the results for paying books, housing...
incomes - this variable must be so studied. the main variable must be incomes per capita in each family, and comparing this with a average incomes in own country. We have to implements the correct tools to avoid tricks and give scholarships to people the don't need it
grades - i'm agree with you that not neccesary the best people in high school has the better results in the university (personally i'm an example of that). This point could be articulated like loans at the beggining of each academic course. If the studentes reach the objetives, he won'n to repay the loan. If he has a medium grade, the loan must be without interest and the student who his results are the simple pass or not pass the exams, he must repay the loan with legal interests.
By the other side, i'm agree with capelo, maintaining low fees with public financiation of unversity and rpomoving the self-financiation with researching and spin-offs.
regards
6. Great comments! by rikkeindenmark
on Friday, June 27, 2008 at 19:12
Hello capelo and mlobo - thanks again for the comments. I am very glad that you found the topic inspiring - especially since I work with it every day! :-)
I came to think of one thing when I read your comments: It seems very important to you that students are rewarded for their performance - like what mlobo proposes: " If the students reach the objetives, he won't have to repay the loan" - I've heard other people air this opinion before and it always puzzles me a bit. The underlying assumption is that there is a group of lazy or less skilled students who are undeserving and should be "punished" (they'll have to pay). It's a bit of a caricature of your statement, mlobo, bear with me... I'll make my point right below :-)
I've never been a big fan of economic incentives for making people study harder - because I'm concerned that it can backlash on vulnerable groups (e.g. if you're a student and go through a depression or a family crisis - should that cost you the scholarship?). Further, my starting-point is - unlike many of those who argue in favour of economic punishment - that students start university, because they want to learn, and if they loose that motivation, then something 'went wrong'; either in their private life or at their place of study. Therefore, I favour (investment in) improvements at the universities; training of teachers in didactics, more councelling and contact hours, better possibilities for studying on campus (in Denmark students study from home a lot, many only have classes 15 hours a week), etc. etc.
So... the conclusion is that I don't think economic 'punishment' will do a lot of good to student performance and I wouldn't favour scholarships which works this way.
I guess this was a bit out of the scope of the Yourspace manifesto debate, but interesting discussion nevertheless :-)
7. UK fees by rikkeindenmark
on Friday, June 27, 2008 at 19:18
--> Capelo: btw, you are right: UK fees are much higher than fees in the rest of Europe, at least if you look at what EU nationals pay.8. About prizes and punishments by mlobo
on Monday, June 30, 2008 at 10:37
Hi rikkeindenmark,
Studiing at university has a lot of cost for the families. Not only the tuition fee must be considerated. Denmanrk is a small country comparated with Spain, Germany or France. If someone who lives in one of the extremes of his country (if you includes isles, the problem increases), wants to study in a Univertsity in the other extreme, has huge costs, living, maintenance.... My proposal of secundary scholarships in function of results are to cover this costs.
9. Looking at experiences? by Hanneke on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 at 21:01
Dear Rikke, all,
I like the comments made here, it reflects the tough spot Europe is facing now. I work at a university, therefore this blog entry interests me. I agree there seems to be a push to tuition fees on a European level, because "that's the way they do it in the States, and look where the best universities are". That has nothing to do with quality though, as the worst universities can also be found there.
What the effects of tuition fees are, for equality among social classes and the quality of education, is not very clear. But it could be assessed. From the experience in the United States, it is clear that exorbitant tuition fees create a disadvantaged situation for less wealthy people.
Another argument raised is that a tuition fee would that really instigate students to work harder. I think that a focus on small class teaching, mandatory participation, and having to make assignments throughout the year would do a good job too. Parents pay tuition fees anyway, in the majority of cases. So that argument does not convince me either.
The argument that in fact the tax payer pays the education of the higher classes does hold, i think. It is a real concern. As students are the main beneficiairies of the education they enjoy, they could pay some of it themselves, to relieve the burden on the tax payer and support the universities who are struggeling financially. In my view, only small tuition fees can be justified by this reasoning though, to create an optimal balance with the social concerns raised in this blog.
It would however be good to get some clear data on the influence of tuition fees. We have experience with a diverse palet of situations now. In Germany, the situation changed, and tuition fees can now be charged. Did that really have an effect on admissions, quality of education, etc? In the UK, does the educational system increase the gap between social classes? These things can be empirically tested. Of course, situations across countries differ, as do habits, social norms, etc. What holds in Germany might not hold in Italy. But it can be an indication. It is better than looking at the States, which is a totally different situation all together.
In general, Europe embraces social values throughout all it's actions. This is the thing that sets Europe apart from the US. Let's continue to embrace these values, but look critically at our actions. If we want to increase the quality of our educational institutions, let's first get rid of nepotism in hiring new professors, install tenure tracks, and assess university staff on their quality, not on their connections. And then, look at how we teach students. Oral exams with no external supervision invite nepotism. Lectures for 700 students, and no mandatory participation in small teaching units invites an undesirable inactive attitude among students. Demand participation and quality from students, and you will get it from them. This does require additional funding, that is true, at that makes me consider charging small tuition fees as not too bad. Large tuition fees however cannot be justified, the money raised should be spent by universities in a way that benefits the students. And again, I would like to see the data on the effect of recent changes in tuition fee policies throughout Europe.
10. Europe vs. US by rikkeindenmark
on Friday, July 11, 2008 at 13:43
Hi Hanneke, thanks for your elaborate reply! Like you i work in the university sector and I completely agree that there is really a lot to the discussion about fees! It's not just a black and white issue and we need to know much more about the social consequences of different funding models.
I also agree very much that Europe shouldn't 'blindly' compare itself to the US, as many politicians do in the debate about fees. Yes, US universities might be richer - but are they really the right role model for European universities? Social and educational systems are very, very different in Europe and the US. We shouldn't forget our own values while developing our universities and educational system.
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