This week’s news comes from Canada, the UK and Ireland with tuition fees rising at many Canadian institutions and Ireland facing a student accommodation shortage.
Furthermore, the Times Higher Education rankings for Health and Science have placed the University of Oxford at the top for the eleventh year running, with the UK’s position in the field solidified after significant research investment and success in relation to Covid-19.
Here’s your weekly higher education news roundup.
Canadian tuition fees rise by 4.9 percent
A new study by Statistics Canada has shown that the average international undergraduate tuition cost is now $33,623, a 7.1 percent increase on 2020/21.
This means that international students studying in Canada now pay roughly three times the amount that domestic students do for their course fees. The average student now pays 4.9 percent more in 2021/22.
There have not, however, been rises across all provinces of the country, with Newfoundland and Labrador not increasing fees at all, and costs rising from between a 1.4 percent increase in Prince Edward Island and 9 per cent in British Columbia.
According to the Financial Information of Universities and Colleges Survey, revenue from tuition and fees has increased by $476.1 million compared to the previous year.
Statistics Canada has said that the increase “is partially due to the rising number of international students attending Canadian universities and the higher tuition fees they pay.”
Just over 12 percent of international students at undergraduate level last year studied full-time engineering, paying on average $37,377 for tuition fees in 2021/22, and around a third of international students were enrolled in business, management and public administration in the last five years.
Health and science subject rankings 2022 released
The UK’s position as world-leading in health sciences and research has been affirmed by the latest Times Higher Education rankings after a year of leading Covid-19 progress in the nation.
The University of Oxford has placed top of the World University Rankings by subject table for clinical and health, it’s 11th consecutive year. It increased both in its overall score and its lead over second-place Harvard University. This is due in part to its development of a Covid-19 vaccine.
Imperial College London and University College London have each risen by one place to third and eighth, while King’s College London has risen by four places to twelfth.
In total, the UK has 28 institutions in the top 200, with the nation’s average score in all five areas of ranking having improved compared to last year.
The rankings for Engineering, technology and computer science will be released on 6 October, Social sciences, business and economics, education and law on October 13 and Arts and humanities on November 3.
Student housing shortage hits Ireland
Students studying in Ireland have been hit by the country’s student housing shortage, with many having their experience of studying in the country usurped by a lack of accommodation.
Reports from the country, which is one of the world’s top destinations for international students, have said that students are “struggling to source” places to live, with some being forced to couch surf, according to Pie News.
The Director of the Irish Council for International Students, Laura Harmon, has said that while the situation around accommodation had improved at the beginning of the year, any improvement was only temporary.
She added, “we are now starting to see a return to the now almost normalised accommodation crisis.”
“This is why quality needs to be enforced for all accommodation in the state, starting with urgent legislative reform.”
The Connacht Tribune has described “thousands on waiting lists” in Galway for accommodation and “countless more” facing deferral due to the student housing crisis.
The Union of Students in Ireland is calling for government action through a sleep-out protest. The government has remained silent so far in regards to the issue.
