Non-European students who wish to undertake a non-medical graduate programme in Utrecht as of 2010, will have to dig deep into their pockets. As agreed by the Deans earlier, tuition fees for these graduate programmes will increase by almost 5,000 euros.
The Executive Board has recently determined the tuition fees for students from outside of the European Economic Area (i.e. EU-countries plus Liechtenstein, Norway and Iceland) who wish to start a government-funded programme in Utrecht in 2010.
Undergraduate students will not face any dramatic changes. Tuition fees for undergraduate programmes will stay the same or be increased just a little, as will the fees for the graduate programmes in Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. The fees for the government-funded graduate programmes of the five other faculties, however, will be raised substantially. For a non-medical graduate programme, students in 2010 will have to pay almost one and a half times the amount paid by their predecessors.
This big rise is the result of an agreement made earlier by the Deans to increase the tuition fees for these graduate programmes in two stages up to a cost-effective level. The fees have been determined in consultation with Amsterdam and Leiden, the two other Dutch universities participating in the ‘League of European Research Universities’.
An exception has been made for students currently following a graduate programme; they will still be charged the fees which applied when they started their graduate programme. The set fees do not apply to privately-funded programmes, although it has been agreed that the tuition fees for those programmes may not be lower than those of similar government-funded programmes.
EH
The fees
2009-2010 / 2010-2011
Bachelor in Humanities / Law, Economics and Governance / Geosciences / Social and Behavioural Sciences: 6,000 / 6,000
Bachelor in Sciences & Biomedical Disciplines: 8,300 / 9,200
Bachelor at UCU: 9,100 / 9,400
Bachelor in Medicine: 10,200 / 10,200
Master in Humanities / Law, Economics and Governance / Geosciences / Social and Behavioural Sciences: 9,100 / 14,000
Master in Sciences & Biomedical Disciplines: 12,500 / 17,350
Master in Medicine: 18,500 / 18,900
European education to become ‘more transparent’
European education ministers at a conference in Leuven (Belgium) have been taking cautious first steps towards a European quality benchmark for higher education. Other subjects on discussion were limited to well-known intentions regarding mobility, quality and diploma recognition.
At the end of April, ministers of forty-six different countries signed a declaration stating that ‘initiatives’ are being taken to achieve further ‘multidimensional transparency’. This transparency should help institutes of higher education to ‘discover and compare each other’s strong points’. The ministers argue for the usage of sound data and useful indicators.
The education minsters thus elaborate on the ten-year old Bologna Declaration. Mobility will remain a key issue. In 2020, at least twenty per cent of all European students should be completing part of their studies abroad: twice as many as presently. According to the minsters, increased mobility will raise the quality of European research and teaching activities. Encouraging the ‘life-long learning’ concept and seeking new financial sources will also remain high on the agenda.
Dutch and Flemish education ministers also used the conference to work towards individual agreements. The neighbouring countries have agreed to automatically recognise each other’s diplomas from now on.
HOP
