Debate over tuition fees heats up, boils over

The debate over tuition fees heated up, and briefly boiled over, following a recent seminar organised in Helsinki by the Finnish Economic Association, reports the Helsinki Times.

Heikki Patomäki, a professor of world politics at the University of Helsinki, has expressed his reservations about recurring proposals to introduce tuition fees for higher education students, arguing that if students became paying customers, they would expect degrees in exchange for their money regardless of whether or not they have studied accordingly. He also argued that education institutions might be tempted to lower their student admission requirements if their funding was made contingent upon tuition fees.

Markus Jäntti, a professor of economics at the University of Helsinki and the VATT Institute for Economic Research, accused those claiming that the introduction of tuition fees would not jeopardise the right to equal opportunity of being opportunistic, provoking a response from both his fellow participants and members of the audience.
Full report on the Helsinki Times site