Following conversations between the Guild of Students and the University, we are pleased to hear that there will be no rise in undergraduate tuition fees for students during the 2016/17 academic year.
This means that any student admitted between the 2012/2013 and 2016/2017 academic years (inclusive) will remain at the rate of £9,000 for the duration of the programme.
Moving forward, the Government has announced that it will raise the cap for undergraduate fees in line with inflation. Assuming that the relevant regulations are passed by Parliament, which is expected to happen in Autumn 2016, the University of Birmingham will increase fees to the revised amount, expected to be £9,250.
The fees for your first year of study will therefore be £9,250 or a lower amount as set by Parliament for the capped fee level. If the new regulations are not introduced, your fees will be £9,000.
The University will review tuition fees each year. The current expectation is that the University will increase fees for each year of study normally in line with inflation as specified by Parliament. This is likely to be the Retail Price Index (*RPIX) measure of inflation. This means your fees will rise in line with inflation for each year of study. The Guild will continue to meet and hold further discussions with the University in order to represent the best interests of our students.
The Guild’s Education Officer for 2016/17 Chris Wilkinson says “though the Higher Education Bill has yet to be passed into law, Universities Minister Jo Johnson announced that the cap on tuition fees will be lifted for 2017/18 to £9,250 for all Universities who receive a “Meets Expectation” score on the Teaching Excellence Framework. (You can read more about our thoughts on the TEF here.) As Birmingham performed really strongly in our recent QAA assessment, it’s pretty much guaranteed that we’ll “Meet Expectations” in 2017. Fees will then be able to rise each year in line with inflation, meaning that we’ll see £10k+ fees in the very near future! As you may have seen in the press, other Universities have chosen to increase fees not just for new students, but for those currently studying with them. We are pleased to let you know that this is not the case for our University during 2016/17, and I’ll be working hard over the coming academic year to champion student interests as part of the ongoing process”.