This is similar to the proposal put forward by the Scottish Government a few months ago to ensure that students aren’t affected by the increase in fees set by Westminster.
The tuition fees will only rise in line with inflation and the Higher Education Minister also stated that university budgets would be protected.
Responding to the announcement by the Northern Ireland Executive to keep university tuition fees at current levels the National Union of Students (NUS) welcomed the move but urged ministers to ensure that education for others must also be protected.
Adrianne Peltz, President of NUS-USI, said:
“We are delighted that the Executive have listened to the needs of students and not raised tuition fees.
“They must ensure however that they are not robbing Peter to pay Paul by taking funding from other forms of education.
“Funding is under threat across the entire education sector and in difficult economic times it is vital that all students at all levels are protected.”
Liam Burns, NUS UK President, said:
“I applaud this excellent decision by the Northern Ireland Executive. The coalition in Westminster have left education in every nation of the UK in chaos and handed devolved administrations almost impossible funding scenarios.
“The Executive now have the opportunity to make better decisions than other nations have with regards to students from the rest of the UK. It is vital that students coming into Northern Ireland are not treated as cash cows when dealing with cross-border flow and are backed by solid bursaries.”
The National Union of Students-Union of Students in Ireland (NUS-USI) was established in 1972 under a unique arrangement where both the British and Irish national student unions, National Union of Students (NUS) and Union of Students in Ireland (USI) respectively, jointly organised in Northern Ireland to promote student unity across the sectarian divide.
NUS-USI Student Movement represents the interests of over 200,000 students in Northern Ireland and campaigns on their behalf in many different fields such as student hardship, health, prejudice and accommodation. We also provide an infrastructure that helps individual Students' Unions in the North of Ireland to develop their own work through our research, training and development functions