Discussion
This section will discuss the cost of higher education. Fees of higher education are one of the most
debated issues. Commercialization requires market system and UK universities are mainly dependent on
students’ tuitions as commercialized organizations. However, the UK government uses cost-sharing funding
system and UK universities also receive money from the government. In spite of a cost-sharing system, UK
higher education cost is expensive and it causes some disagreements among the population. I will investigate
the main source of funding of UK higher education and will attempt to analyze it. This part of the paper will
debate why commercialization causes the rise of education cost in the UK.
The UK is one of the first countries which commercialize their own higher education system and it has
become a developed education system in the world. UK higher education has a long history. Namely,
Cambridge and Oxford universities are the ones of the oldest and most popular educational organizations.
Moreover, other UK universities are highly ranked organizations. Since 1970s the number of students has
grown slightly. In contrast, the price of oil increased and it had a crucial impact on the UK economy. Hence
the government of the UK had begun privatization of public sectors such as health, transport and education.
Абай атындағы ҚазҰПУ-нің Хабаршысы, «Педагогика ғылымдары» сериясы, №4(52), 2016 ж.
187
Nowadays, all UK universities are not free, so students have to pay for higher education. Universities require
money to support themselves and they use the market system which helps them to be competitive. They
depend on students’ tuition, which is taken from UK students, which use cost-sharing system, and
international students.
Students of UK universities have become the main consumers of higher education. Some researchers have
described higher education as a market phenomenon. For example, in his article, Foskett considers
marketization of UK higher education very comprehensive and gives a brief background of higher
education’s history and its current direction [2]. According to Foskett marketization is one way that solves
satisfaction of the population’s demand and it helps universities to survive in ‘wild environment’ [2, p.30].
Moreover, this article explains the way of funding UK universities. The author demonstrates that there
existed three sources of funding. First, the government supports the Higher Education Funding, second,
universities receive money from the course fee which is paid by students and finally, they obtain money from
services that universities offer for students such as accommodation. Furthermore, Foskett points out some
details of these funding sources [2]. The author also reveals other aspects of higher education marketization
such as the demand satisfaction, the role of international market and the rise of competition. All these aspects
are considered as the main areas of higher education system.
Foskett’s article highlights several interesting points in terms of marketization of higher education, such
as demand, choice and competition [2]. All of them are primary features of market. The author gives
interesting supports for his idea, for example, universities’ accommodations are one of the funding sources of
higher education; however, students have choices [2, p.32]. For that reason, students can live everywhere. In
addition, the author argues that the competition of universities could help identify the strongest among them
and they can establish their own fee policy for students. Nevertheless, there is a lack of discussion regarding
the consequences of marketization. Without a doubt, the market rule is competition, but it could cause the
rise of fees. It could cause that poor family cannot afford higher education. Currently, some UK university
tuitions such as Cambridge and Oxford are high and not everybody can access them. Another concern is
perhaps the effect of international students who are paying more than local students. While international
students are paying higher tuition, universities might think about their fees for UK students.
Additionally, Foskett outlines about funding provided by the UK government, namely the Educational
Funding Council, which pays only half of UK students’ tuitions [2]. Nonetheless, there is less information in
terms of cost-sharing which is very popular in the UK and it causes some debates among the population. For
instance, in 2010 and 2011 British students protested for trebling the cost of tuition. These events were the
consequences of high fees, and the growth of tuition could cause inequality in the population. Overall,
Foskett’s article mainly describes the marketization of higher education in the UK [2]. The author provides
enough information regarding the history and the commercialization of UK higher education and also
provides valuable examples. However, this study cannot show the importance of cost-sharing and the
negative consequences of marketization such as inequality.
UK universities as commercialization organizations are dependent on income. Their main source of funds
is students’ tuition. The cost of higher education is not cheap and many people cannot afford it. For that
reason, the government of UK pays part of tuition for UK citizens and it is called ‘cost sharing’. Cost-sharing
is related to payment of higher education and he divides it into four sections: first is the government, second
is parents of students, third is students, last is sponsored organizations. One of the main important points is
that students of UK and EU are required to pay in advance for their courses, for these students the
government pays their tuition and students can return government’s money when they have graduated and
earn more than 21,000 pounds annually
[5]
. It seems if after graduating, students cannot earn enough money,
they may not return money to the government.
However, some people do not want their tax to be spent for others’ education. For instance, Professor
Noam Chomsky claims that why people should pay taxes for public education, if they do not have children
[6]. It could be a convincing argument, but unequal taxes may cause social imbalance among the population.
Additionally, many poor people cannot afford higher education with high tuition. For that reason, the UK
government supports students some money which help to solve financial problems such as food, materials
for their courses and accommodation
[5]
.
Another important financial source of UK universities is tuition of overseas students. The UK and its
universities have significant income from other countries’ citizens who study in this country [5]. For
|