h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hmm, so here's the student opinion on tuition fees and university entrance, always fun .

I couldn't say whether higher education is for the 50% of the country or however many it is they're looking for. I think its generally worthwhile for me, but I've always been a bit bookish so who knows about the rest. They have those sorts of numbers in the USA, which has probably the world's best (and most expensive for the students I don't doubt) university system though.

On fees, they actually seem like a good move on balance to me. Obviously I'd prefer not to have to pay them if the government money was there, but with the loan and grant system in place I've yet to meet any specific examples of people who can't actually afford to go to university. If extra education money really did go towards primary education as was promised, then I can't really argue against that. Would certainly prefer free university to middle eastern wars, overpaid diplomats or whatever it is the department of culture does mind.

Universities used to earn money through research, though of course animal welfare groups have put a stop to a lot of that. They also used to be able to charge foreign students ridiculous sums of money for places - at Warwick university they have so many foreign students that someone complained he was the only person on his corridor who spoke English as a first language.

The decision to increase the number of universities, to increase the number of places seems logical, but naturally is going to lead to a diversity of courses - is this a good thing ? I don't know, but Coventry University has been trying to persuade me to sign up for a degree in project management (part-time) however commercially a PRINCE2 qualification is better regarded. I am on the course for that the week after next.

I can assure you that they still charge non-European students a pretty penny. One of the girls I lived with last year is being charged about 19,600 pounds this year for her medicine course.

Similarly, research still produces plenty of money, which tends to go straight back to the department that produced it. Very helpful for those on science and engineering courses - certainly in Bristol they have very shiny new facilities.