Major rise in student fees being considered to tackle budget shortfall
Stormont officials have been asked to examine the revenue-raising potential of increasing university student fees in Northern Ireland to £7,000.The department, which is responsible for skills, further education, higher education, tourism and economic development, has warned that a number of sectors will be affected by cuts. Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris recently set a budget for the region in the absence of devolved ministers at Stormont.
Civil servants in the department have been told by Mr Heaton-Harris to look at a rise in tuition fees as a potential revenue-raising measure. The PA news agency understands they are examining the implications of setting the fee at £7,000. The Department for the Economy has been allocated £772 million in resource funding and £246 million in capital funding for the 2023/24 financial year.
Officials met representatives from arms-length bodies on Monday afternoon to set out the scale of the funding implications of the budget settlement. In addition, more than 100 posts in the department which are vacant will not be filled, preventing it from increasing its workforce by roughly a tenth.
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