The announcement of increased tuition fees across universities in England and Wales is understandably a concern for many. Higher education is already a significant investment, and fee increases will add to the financial strain that many students, graduates, and their families experience.
However, the decision to raise tuition fees will not have been taken lightly; it is driven by the need to bring some long term financial stability to the sector and to maintain and enhance the quality of education and research of our higher education system.
We welcome the accompanying rise in maintenance loans, which reflects the current economic realities and the rising cost of living for our students. Since my arrival in August, I have been clear that that any increase in tuition fees must be paired with enhanced financial support to prevent affordability from becoming a barrier to higher education. In this spirit, we have recently reviewed our bursary eligibility criteria and significantly increased the income thresholds, allowing us to provide nearly 20% more scholarships and bursaries – an additional investment of £2.5million per year. Our ambition is to make Manchester accessible to everyone, so that talent and ambition, not finances, determine access to our university.
It will now be incumbent upon us to ensure that the student experiences we deliver at Manchester meet the expectations that students rightly have of us. This means increasing our efforts to deliver exceptional teaching, state-of-the-art facilities and technologies, and careers support. We recognise this responsibility and are committed to working closely with students over the coming months to ensure we capture their needs and expectations as we update our University strategy through the Manchester 2035 process.
Duncan Ivison
President and Vice-Chancellor
