AQW 13290/17-22

Ms Claire Sugden
Independent
East Londonderry

Tabled Date: 25/01/2021
Answered On Date: 28/01/2021
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister for the Economy for her assessment of students currently paying full university fees when their access to higher education has been limited due to restrictions related to COVID-19.

Answer:

Higher Education is a devolved matter and my Department is responsible only for determining the annual maximum tuition fee level that can be charged by higher education institutions in Northern Ireland. It is a decision for the higher education institutions to determine what they wish to charge Northern Ireland and EU domiciled students, up to that maximum level.

However, I have written to Northern Ireland’s universities, on behalf of students, asking them to review their compliance with consumer law and provide assurance that, in implementing their response to the Covid-19 pandemic, they have given due regard to relevant consumer protection law.

Institutions must be clear with new and returning students about how teaching and assessment will be delivered and the circumstances in which changes might be necessary. I have therefore asked the higher education institutions to:

confirm that they have been, and will continue to be, sufficiently clear with new and continuing students about how teaching and assessment is delivered, the circumstances in which changes might be made, and what those changes might entail;

confirm that, in their assessment, students received, during the autumn term, the teaching and assessment they were promised and might reasonably have expected to receive based on the information provided; and

confirm whether their current plans for the spring and summer terms will ensure that students receive the teaching and assessment they were promised and might reasonably expect to receive based on the information provided.

If new or returning students were not provided with sufficiently clear information about how teaching and assessment would be delivered in 2020-21, or that teaching and assessment were not delivered as promised, I will expect the institutions to actively consider their obligations under consumer law for tuition fee refunds or other forms of redress.