Vice-chancellor seeks support for Magee

In a hard-hitting address at the Winter Graduation ceremonies held at Londonderry's Millennium Forum its Professor Richard Barnett, voiced fears for the future of disadvantaged young people if the tuition fee policy proposed for England is replicated in Northern Ireland.

He said: "I fear that should the Northern Ireland Executive and Assembly follow England, or tinker around the edges with the English policy, that access to higher education will in the future relate more to family circumstances than it does to ability to learn."

He continued: "And while this university will continue to be strong - as indicated by most of the conventional measures of success - we would be weakened by so flawed a policy."

Professor Barnett, who wants the Northern Ireland Executive to allow Ulster to take on an extra 1,000 full-time undergraduates at Magee, said students who want to study at university here must have that opportunity rather than having to apply to universities in England, where education costs are set to rise dramatically.

He added: "What is clear is that the high fees regime in England makes this university's bid to expand our Magee campus in Derry-Londonderry all the more important.

"Currently about 1/3 of Northern Ireland's students study outside of the province, mainly in England.

"Some do so voluntarily, but many do so because they cannot obtain a place here.

"As the fees increase, more students will be seeking to study closer to home, continuing a trend that is already well underway."