Minister rejects claim that Sinn Fein has ‘partitionist’ stance on tuition fees

Sinn Fein’s Economy minister has rejected claims her party is adopting a “partitionist” approach to student fees after she declined to rule out an increase north of the border.

Caoimhe Archibald said ideally students would not have to pay any fees in Northern Ireland but added that the Executive has to work within “financial reality” as she blamed the UK Government for “imposing” a fee-based system in the region.

Last week, university chiefs in Northern Ireland jointly called on political leaders to back a significant increase in tuition fees, warning that failure to tackle a funding crisis in the sector will force them to cut places for local students.

Ms Archibald’s comments to the Assembly on Tuesday came after SDLP MLA Sinead McLaughlin accused the minister and her party of being “totally inconsistent” on the issue.

During Assembly question time, Foyle MLA Ms McLaughlin had called on Ms Archibald to rule out a rise in the fee cap in Northern Ireland.

When the minister declined to do so, the SDLP representative highlighted that Sinn Fein is campaigning for fees to be abolished in the Republic of Ireland.

“You should be consistent with your position on tuition fees,” she told the minister.

“In the south, you want to reduce and abolish tuition fees, and in the north you’re not ruling out raising them. This is totally inconsistent. And for an all-island party, you’re acting in a very partitionist manner.

“Are you really telling this House that Sinn Fein are happy with two different policy positions in relation to tuition fees north and south? The value of a student in the south is greater than in the north?”

The minister, whose department has responsibility for funding the higher education sector in Northern Ireland, defended her party’s position.

“Let me say that, from my perspective, ideally, student fees would be zero, but we have to work within the financial reality that we have,” she said.

“And obviously the system that we have, which is imposed upon us by the British Government in respect of their policy in relation to fees and years of austerity, has had an impact on all of our public services, including our universities, which are a key economic driver.

“So we need to ensure fees are at a level that is affordable for students and maintains the financial viability of universities.

“And I think it’s important as well to look at the maintenance support that is in place for students, which has not been uplifted in many years.

“But, unfortunately, as I’ve already outlined in previous answers, the Executive is in the position where, over the past number of years, it’s been mitigating against decisions and bad policies that are set in Westminster. And that’s the same in relation to student fees.”

Addressing Ms McLaughlin’s claim, the minister added: “I think the Member has articulated the challenge that we face in relation to partition, which is damaging for everybody across this island.

“And the reality is that I have the exact same position as my colleagues in the south that I articulated at the beginning of my answer – that, from my perspective, I would like to see no student fees. But we are not in a reality where we have the financial capability or the fiscal powers that the government in the south has, where we have costed proposals to reduce and to remove student fees.

“And, as I said, we are in a position in the north where we have imposed upon us a system of fees that has been put in place by the Tory government and is being maintained by the Labour Government. And what we are trying to do as an Executive is ensure that we have a viable economy, a skills pipeline coming through, but, from my perspective, what we need to see is proper support for students.”

Last week, the heads of Queen’s University, Ulster University and the Open University in Ireland co-signed a letter to the five largest parties at Stormont to warn the current funding arrangements are “not sustainable”.

The three leaders acknowledged that any increase in tuition fees agreed by Stormont should not be seen in “isolation” and they also expressed support for a corresponding rise in the maintenance grant available to students from low-income households.

The letter was endorsed by the principals of Northern Ireland’s two dedicated teacher training colleges – Stranmillis and St Mary’s.

Annual tuition fees for students from the island of Ireland studying in Northern Ireland are currently capped at £4,750.

Students from the rest of the UK who study in Northern Ireland pay up to £9,250. That is the same amount paid by Northern Ireland students studying in universities and colleges in England, Scotland and Wales.

The £9,250 cap is increasing to £9,535 at the start of the next academic year in the autumn.

The Northern Ireland university chiefs are not pressing for major structural changes to the current funding model, rather an increase to the fee cap for island of Ireland students to reflect the inflationary pressures of recent years.

Their letter expressed frustration that tuition fee increases in Northern Ireland since 2011 have “consistently fallen below inflation” while costs have “risen dramatically”.

Citing an example, the higher education leaders said if 2021 was taken as a new baseline point to apply retrospective inflationary uplifts, the corrected fee cap would be £5,831.