Two private universities set to stop charging tuition fees

Two of Iceland’s independent universities have indicated they will accept an offer of full state funding on condition that they stop charging tuition fees.

Minister of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Áslaug Arna Sigurbjörnsdóttir announced the offer, which applies to the country’s three independent universities, on 13 February.

“We in the ministry have made an effort to increase the number of students in science, technology and art subjects, as Iceland lags behind other Nordic countries when it comes to the number of students in these subjects,” the minister said.

“By giving students more choice, we enable a larger and more diverse group of people to study in subjects that are of great importance for our competitiveness in the future and greatly increase opportunities to study in Iceland,” she explained.

The three universities – the Iceland University of the Arts, Bifröst University and Reykjavík University – already receive 60% to 80% of the funding they would receive if they were public universities.

Unique offerings

The students of the three schools account for about a fifth of all university students in Iceland, but the schools all have their own focus in that the University of Reykjavík offers a selection of technical, business and law subjects, the Iceland University of the Arts offers art studies and the University of Bifröst offers distance learning in social sciences.

In a prompt response to the minister’s announcement, the Iceland University of the Arts said it would be dropping tuition fees starting in the fall semester of 2024. It will mean that students will only have to pay a lower registration fee – in keeping with the fees paid by students in public universities.

In a press release on 13 February Kristín Eysteinsdóttir, the university’s rector, welcomed the minister’s decision, saying the university had long wanted to do away with tuition fees.

“This is a big moment for the university and the most important issue for equal access of students to higher arts education in this country,” Eysteinsdóttir said. “This will lead to more economic equality regarding access to arts education, which is something to celebrate. We expect that the decision will lead to an even more diverse group of applicants, and students as a result, in the coming years,” she added.

The Iceland University of the Arts was followed by Bifröst University which also announced it will also accept the offer, while Reykjavík University said it will keep charging students tuition fees.

According to local news reports, the board of Reykjavík University expects an ISK1.2 billion (US$8.7 million) drop in annual operating income if it were to discontinue tuition fees.

President of Reykjavík University Dr Ragnhildur Helgadóttir said: “Students believe that it would be impossible to maintain the uniqueness of Reykjavík University with the proposed cutbacks.”

Ragnhildur went on to say that the new funding structure would impact the entire sector.

“It’s important to note that total university funding is not being increased, but only distributed differently. This means that the total income of universities would drop by over ISK3 billion (US$21.7 million) if all universities accepted this offer,” she is quoted as saying.

About 3,500 students attend Reykjavík University and undergraduates pay approximately ISK288,000 in tuition fees per semester.

“The students are mostly studying the same subjects available in other universities, but choose to study with us even though we charge tuition fees,” Ragnhildur said. “We want to keep offering them this choice.”

Meanwhile, Margrét Jónsdóttir Njarðvík, rector of Bifröst University which has also accepted the ministry’s offer, said the move will encourage equal access to study on economic grounds because the university charges ISK317,000 per semester for undergraduate programmes and ISK500,000 for its postgraduate programmes, according to a report by Visir.

Mixed reactions

Jón Atli Benediktsson, rector of the University of Iceland and chair of the Icelandic Rectors’ Conference, would only say, via a spokesperson, that he has “concerns” about the development, which impacts not only the private universities but the entire university sector in Iceland.

The changes are also likely to affect international students. Iceland is currently the only Nordic country that does not charge tuition fees for students in public universities coming from outside the European Union to study in public universities. Although the issue of implementing non-European Union tuition fees in public universities in line with the other Nordic countries has been under discussion, no definite measures have been taken.

Private universities, on the other hand, have traditionally charged higher fees for students from outside the EU. According to a source in higher education, with the waiving of tuition fees, these private institutions will now not be permitted to charge any tuition fees, including fees for international students. Legislative changes would be needed to exempt international students from the waiver, and it is unlikely this could happen in time for the coming academic year, the source said.

Head of Information at the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Innovation Hrafnhildur Helga Össurardóttir, told University World News the minister’s decision to compensate private independent universities for waiving tuition fees “affects students from European Economic Area (EEA) countries the same way it does Icelandic students, that is, the waiving of tuition fees applies to all students from EEA countries. No decision has been made to change the current status of students from outside the EEA”.

A ‘surprise’ proposal for students

Horia Onita, president of the European Students’ Union, representing 40 million students, said the proposal “came as a surprise, so we are still analysing its impact and calling for the engagement of LIS, the national union of students in Iceland, in a consistent manner”.

He added: “This decision bypassed the consultation portal in Iceland, which traditionally enables public input on political matters, and seemed to be rushed without stakeholder consultation.”

Onita said the union “welcomes any measure which increases the accessibility of higher education, and both evidence and common sense show that tuition fees are one of if not the starkest barrier to access higher education”.

He said in the Icelandic context that the issue of access was even more important as some study programmes (specifically arts programmes) are delivered only by the University of Arts, which is private.

“Students should be able to benefit from free higher education irrespective of the study domain they chose. There are, as such, two complementing barriers which would be eased: on the one side, increased number of study places that would be accessible for students, and an increased number of options for students, especially where the public universities do not offer some study domains,” he explained.

Rearranging of existing budget

However, Onita said this should not be done “through rearranging the existing budget, which would imply a lower share of public funding for already financed higher education institutions”.

He added: “This seems to be the case, which would fix an issue but simultaneously create others, with less sustainable funding overall.”

“Furthermore, giving public funding to private higher education institutions should also imply the same regulatory standards and obligations should apply to private universities, in cases like student participation in decision-making, social dimension, quality assurance standards etcetera, which is not the case now, which creates both unfairness between universities and lesser protection for students.

“In the case of the reaction for the University of Reykjavík, we understand the fear of students that dropping tuition fees would decrease quality by lower funding for services provided, but we believe this should not determine a support for maintaining fees, but rather more advocacy for convincing the government to increase funding,” he concluded.