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Recently, German students protested against the decision of the German Constitutional Court authorizing the Länders to introduce fees for university studies, which until now have been free. Earlier, last June, thousands of students, teachers and parents had demonstrated in Wiesbaden against the project of the regional Christian-Democratic government to impose tuition fees of 500 euros per semester. According to the French newspaper Libération, all of the Länder are proceeding in plans to increase tuition fees and to reduce the budgets given to universities.
In France, the Prime Minister recently came out in favour of an increase “in the coming years” of tuition fees to university, which will be determined “according to the resources of the student and of his or her parents.”
In Greece, Parliament is studying the possibility of modifying the Constitution so as to authorise the creation of private universities. At the moment, higher education is offered exclusively by institutions with the status of legal persons, which are completely independent, acting under the supervision of the State, with the right to government subsidies and which function in accordance with the laws governing these entities. The creation of specialized private universities will inevitably result in the imposition of tuition fees.
The newspaper Le Monde reports that last April, in Chile, hundreds of thousands of secondary students took to the streets across the country to denounce, amongst other things, the poor quality of instruction and the inequalities between the private and the public sectors. They demanded free transportation for primary and secondary school students. Jokingly baptised “the revolt of the penguins”, this unexpected rebellion surprised everyone, starting with the socialist president, who had assumed his functions on March 11.
In Quebec, the debate is heated over the increase in tuition fees, and even constitutes an electoral issue. The University Student Federation of Quebec (FEUQ) maintains its position against this change in educational rights. Strong in the support of the three principle provincial unions, the FEUQ is opposed to the decision of the Liberal Party to raise tuition fees.
The adoption of positions in favour of the installation or the increase of university tuition fees reveals a significant trend. At a time when education is more and more considered by the dominant ideology as a consumer good, there is nothing to be surprised about aside from the extent of the popularity of the subject amongst the leaders and aficionados of the commercialisation of educational services. Nevertheless in Finland, Sweden (nominal tuition fees) and in Norway, access to higher public education is free and no one seems to complain about it.
A reminder: States seem to have forgotten the engagement they took by ratifying, in 1976, the Pact relative to Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which stipulates in Article 13 that “higher education must be made equally accessible to all, according to the means of each person, by all appropriate means and notably by the progressive institution of free tuition.” (CHECK) Does not this article, seemly legally binding, although not respected as such by governments, cause a return to the recurrent but always essential debate over political orientations and the societal choices that flow from them?
References:
Les étudiants allemands manifestent contre l'application de frais de scolarité
http://www.boivigny.com/Les-etudiants-allemands-manifestent-contre-l-application-de-frais-de-scolarite_a147.html (in French only)
Germany : New university tuition fees threaten students with poverty
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/mar2007/tuit-m10.shtml
Les étudiants allemands contestent aussi
http://www.fef.be/page1283.html (in French only)
Lors de l'inauguration de Paris VII-Diderot, Dominique de Villepin s'est prononcé pour une augmentation modulable dans les prochaines années.
http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/actualites/politique/20070207.
OBS1170/villepin_veut_augmenterles_frais_dinscriptions.html(in French only)
Grèce : les étudiants se mobilisent contre les facs privées
http://www.newropeans-magazine.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=
5149&Itemid=84 (in French only)
Chili : Michelle Bachelet et la révolte des « pingouins »
http://www.lemonde.fr/web/article/0,1-0@2-3230,36-839908,0.html (in French only)
Frais de scolarité - Opposition concertée des syndicats et des étudiants à un éventuel dégel
http://www.ledevoir.com/2007/02/16/131360.html (in French only)
