A “taboo” around introducing or increasing tuition fees is contributing to the struggles of many university systems across Europe, a new report has warned.
The paper from the Policy Institute at King’s College London brings together essays from leading higher education figures across England, France, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland – identifying some of the “common roots” that formed them, and some of the similar challenges they face today.
Alison Wolf, professor of public sector management at King’s and one of the editors of the report, described the post-war period for Europe as a “golden” one for universities.
However, as state-backed expansion continued across the rest of the century, she writes that the sector “incurred large new financial obligations” and wider economic growth has been sluggish.
“It is increasingly hard to believe that simply increasing the number of graduates will deliver both high salaries for ever-increasing numbers of people, and a boost to economic growth,” Wolf says in the report.
