Going to university: to pay or not to pay?

Publié jeudi 26 juin 2008 à 09h33
par rikkeindenmark dans La nouvelle Europe sociale (vu 421 fois et 10 commentaires)

And now for something completely different – as Monty Python would say! I’m moving away from gender issues and on to a completely different topic, namely education.

I work in the university sector, where tuition fees are currently a burning hot topic for debate. In my home country we have a long tradition for free – or rather publicly funded – higher education. The argument is that when higher education is free everyone – regardless of social or economic background – has the opportunity to take a university degree. Basically, as Danes see it free education is a question of equality and equal access to education.

However, in globalization the Danish higher education model is challenged: Denmark is one of very few countries in the world which does not have tuition fees (correct me if I’m wrong, but I think there are only 10 countries worldwide with free higher education!). University education is increasingly becoming ‘internationalized’: more and more universities cooperate across borders to offer joint degrees; more and more students go abroad on exchange or take a full degree abroad, etc. With more cooperation across borders it gets more difficult for Denmark to stick with the ‘no fee’ policy – since many of the countries we cooperate...

Tags: blogger of the week, education, equality, public services