Victoria puts up fees by 5pc

ROBERT KITCHIN/The Dominion Post

CLASS ACTION: Victoria University students protested yesterday against a 5 per cent increase in their fees. Some of the more vocal students chanted 'one, two, three, four, study should not make us poor'.

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Groundhog day was how one Victoria University council member described a decision to increase student fees by 5 per cent.

For the fourth consecutive year, the council was told that inadequate government funding of universities meant a recommendation to raise fees by the maximum allowable was made "with reluctance but out of necessity".

Vice-chancellor Pat Walsh's comments yesterday were followed by those of council member Shaan Stevens, who likened the situation to the movie Groundhog Day, where the same day occurs over and over.

"Every year we come with a reluctant heart and every year we reluctantly raise fees," he said amid another annual fee-setting meeting featuring angry outbursts from students from the public gallery.

This time they chanted "one, two, three, four, study should not make us poor".

The increase – the highest a university can approve – means the fees of most undergraduates studying arts, social sciences, languages and education will rise by about $191 to $4017 next year.

The fee increase will generate another $3.2 million in revenue for the university.

University chancellor Professor Tim Beaglehole said the fee rise was necessary given the financial realities facing New Zealand universities.

"All New Zealand universities are now working in a capped funding environment," he said.

Victoria University was looking at boosting other funding options, including more external research funding and the expansion of continuing and community education courses.

Victoria University Students Association president Joel Cosgrove called the fee rise "a soft option" that was taking from the wrong people and would in particular hurt the study opportunities of Maori and Pacific Island students.

Professor Walsh said the university was conscious of the burden the increase placed upon students and their families but economic uncertainty and a decline in the government operating budget meant funding increases from the Beehive were "less likely".

"Planning in this environment suggests that Victoria cannot rely on Government for revenue relief. Additional funding, if required, must be mainly generated from other sources."

Vice-chancellors had "singly and collectively" emphasised the need for significant increases to government funding to ministers and officials on many occasions and in many ways, he said.

- © Fairfax NZ News