Well, it's happened. This morning the university announced that it will be charging £9000 a year for degrees as of next year.
I wasn't going to comment on this - largely as I'm employed by the university as a postgraduate seminar tutor. Then I thought 'blow it', and decided to jot some thoughts down. They may not be too radical ideas down here though.
There seems to be two schools of thought on this decision. The first is that it is utterly unjustified. I can see their point.
All in all, this has been massively intrusive for those living on campus. Work is carry on right next to some of the halls of residence, and so privacy has been an issue.
(The work is scheduled to finish in 2012, as the new fees system will come in).
There's also the question of cost-effectiveness. The university has been openly looking to challenge Oxbridge, London and the larger, more established (mostly Russell Group) universities for some time. When it's placing on the University League Tables slipped out of the top 10 this year, it was big news on campus. As far as the current university management are concerned, Exeter has the potential to be a first-grade university and they intend to get us there.
The university has already promised that it will be bringing in new procedures for widening access. The question many seem to be putting though is whether we are bringing in the new price rises in order to be seen as being on a level with Oxbridge.
To that all I would add this (and again, I am a paid employee of the university*). Given that the Government is slashing the grant money for STEM subjects considerably, and abolishing funding for the Humanities, what rational choice will universities have than to raise their fees by as much as they think they can get away with?
* So accept my words here with all the necessary salt you see fit.
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