Ulster Unionist Agriculture Spokesperson Jo-Anne Dobson MLA has made a stand at this week’s Agriculture and Rural Development Committee meeting by restating her clear opposition to the DARD Minister’s plans to drastically increase CAFRE tuition fees for students coming from Great Britain.
DARD plan to bring in changes which would increase tuition fees at Cafre colleges to £9,000 per year for students who live in England, Scotland and Wales, whilst charging students from the Republic of Ireland and other EU countries £1,380.
The planned moves would also involve a moderate increase in fees for Northern Ireland student to the same level of £1,380.
Speaking during the Committee meeting the Upper Bann MLA said: “I cannot in conscience vote for this amendment which is fundamentally unfair, and politically un-Unionist. It brings with it fees for pupils from other regions of the United Kingdom at six and a half times larger than for pupils from other EU countries, including those from the Republic will pay the same tuition fee as Northern Ireland students.
As a Unionist I believe that it is unacceptable that students from Great Britain coming to study at Colleges in Northern Ireland should be expected to pay fees of £9,000 per year whilst students from the Republic of Ireland pay £7,620 less. I am confident that my views and the views of the Ulster Unionist Party are shared by Unionists across Northern Ireland.
Over the last five years students from the other regions of the United Kingdom have made up just 2.3% of the students who study at Cafre Colleges and it is therefore clear to me that these proposals are politically motivated and not based on economics principles.
The financial cost of these proposals to the Executive are negligible, but the consequences are far reaching. Ask any farmer where DARD could make savings in their bloated bureaucracy and you will be given a lengthy list.
I understand the need to protect places at our agricultural colleges for Northern Ireland students, however given the low number of students who come from England, Scotland and Wales this should not be done in this way which is an affront to our British identity.
As a Unionist I find it unacceptable that a student from Cork could study at a Cafre College and pay £7,620 less than a student from Cardiff. If the Sinn Fein Minister believes she should structure the policies at DARD as if we live in a United Ireland, I for one do not. I am calling for an agricultural fees structure which actively encourages students rather than one which puts politically motivated financial barriers in the way of students from other regions of our country.