No increase in tuition fees for students says Economy Minister
Addressing MLAs at Stormont, Mr Murphy said he wanted to grow the number of further education places available in the region, but did not believe the financial burden for that should fall on students.
There will be no increase in tuition fees for students in Northern Ireland, Economy Minister Conor Murphy has said.
Addressing MLAs at Stormont, Mr Murphy said he wanted to grow the number of further education places available in the region, but did not believe the financial burden for that should fall on students.
Northern Ireland students who study at local universities currently pay £4,750 a year in tuition fees, compared with a maximum of £9,250 to study in England.
As part of the deal which restored the Stormont powersharing institutions earlier this year, ministers were tasked with finding ways to raise additional revenue.
Mr Murphy, who was hosting his first ministerial questions since returning to the Assembly following a period of ill-health, was asked what consideration he had given to reviewing tuition fees.
He said: "I have no intention of increasing tuition fees given that our students already face considerable cost-of-living pressures and many take on significant debt to access higher education.
"I am committed to working with the higher education sector to embed sustainable funding arrangements that enable the sector to thrive and create more opportunities for our students."
Ulster Unionist leader Doug Beattie asked the minister what his plan was to increase the number of places available to students from Northern Ireland who wanted to study at local institutions.
Mr Murphy said: "The question that the burden of that would fall on the students is unfair because we are in a cost-of-living crisis.
"We are putting thousands of young people into significant debt just to get through higher education.
"I have committed to working with our institutions to try and see other ways we will increase the numbers without placing that burden directly on students.
"Of course if we had more money in the system, if we had a better settlement in terms of our public finances, then there would be more opportunities for supporting more places.
"My focus is trying to find ways to creatively work with the educational institutions themselves to try to find a way to grow that number and to try and make sure that as many young people as want to stay then have an ability to stay."
The SDLP's Stormont leader Matthew O'Toole said Northern Ireland was exporting an "entire university's worth" of students every year.
He added: "Many of them want to go but too many of them don't want to go and they don't come back.
"It's a structural problem in our economy."
He asked if there would be specific action in the programme for government about how to increase student places.
Last week, First Minister Michelle O'Neill said the calling of a General Election on July 4 could place plans to publish the programme for government before Stormont's summer recess in jeopardy.
Mr Murphy said he hoped the government plan would be able to be published "very, very soon".
He added: "The Executive have a collective commitment to growing the economy.
"An increase in the number of people who access further and higher educational institutions and skills and who remain here is surely a very strong way to continue to grow our economy."