Otago University is set to increase fees for international students in all subjects bar one, a decision that has not been welcomed across the student body.
The only papers that have escaped the increases are within the postgraduate clinical dentistry course, which will see their cost cut by up to 30.6 percent, leaving students enrolled in the course saving up to $27,000 per equivalent full-time student (EFTS).
It is understood that 31 of the 56 papers taking the largest fee increases of 4.4 percent will be in humanities, a department that is struggling to attract the number of enrollments it would like.
Those in the upper echelons of the University are attempting to further tap into the lucrative international student sector in an attempt to bring more money into struggling departments. There is, however, a fine line between making more money by increasing fees and putting people off studying at Otago University.
Furthermore, the University’s total enrollments have declined year-on-year since 2010, including a five percent decline between 2010 and 2014. Auckland University on the other hand saw a year-on-year increase of four percent over the same time frame, potentially providing another window into why this decision was taken.
OUSA Acting President, Jarred Griffiths, has categorically stated that OUSA opposes all fee increases for students. He noted “that one of the saddest things is that we have normalised the increases. Fees may increase by 1.5 percent one year and three percent another, and people are becoming less and less outraged.”
With fee increases more generally, Griffiths believes “there is an underfunding of tertiary education by this government. When you have funding from central government decreasing and universities facing increased cost pressures, that has to be met somewhere and unfortunately for us, you, and international students, that gap in funding is being bridged by students themselves. Fee increases are placing an increased burden of the cost of tertiary education onto students, and we don’t agree with that.”
OUSA International Officer Rachel Goh is calling for more explanation about the fee increases. She is calling for a detailed explanation concerning the reasons why this decision has been made, before saying she thinks “we need a more frank discussion between the University and students.”
Although she said it is too early to confidently forecast the effect of the decision on international student numbers, she suspects that “by raising the fees you may see a more significant drop in international students [coming to Otago University].”