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By Baroness Coussins - 27th April 2011
Baroness Coussins calls for a commitment from the government that the tuition fee waiver will continue for students on the Erasmus scheme.
I am seeking a firm commitment from the government that the tuition fee waiver will continue for students who spend a year abroad as part of their degree course. When fees increase next year, the cost of a year abroad if no waiver is available will be a serious deterrent to anyone considering a four-year course.
But the element of a languages degree which is arguably the most valuable is the year abroad, when students can consolidate their language skills and acquire the kind of intercultural and international understanding which employers say they want and which is so often lacking in British graduates.
There are currently about 11,000 students a year on Erasmus scheme-supported years abroad, 60 per cent of whom are from non-language disciplines, plus about 2,500 language assistants with the British Council. In addition, over 4,000 students go further afield, beyond the EU, but the fee waiver does not apply to them, even though it is very much in the interests of the UK economy and competitiveness to increase the number of graduates across all subjects with detailed knowledge and experience of China, Japan, India, the Middle East, Russia, Africa and Latin America. The government should be encouraging the year abroad, not undermining it with uncertainty.
The proportion of fees covered by the waiver should be increased, with correspondingly higher payments from HEFCE to compensate universities. There should also be other measures, such as higher-rate loans for all students taking a year abroad, and the freezing of loan interest during work or study abroad.
If this support is not forthcoming, we could see the devaluing and even the end of modern language degrees, with the year abroad becoming the preserve of the well-off elite.
Baroness Coussins was ceo of the Portman Group from 1996 to 2006 and was raised to the peerage in 2007.
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