East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson questioned the Universities Minister, David Willets, regarding tuition fees on Wednesday in the House of Commons. Sammy Wilson said:
“The Government says that it is committed to a better deal for students, but an increase in cost of 100% does not seem like a good deal to me.
I asked the Minister what steps he intends to take to ensure that universities do not just put up fees but first look at how they can reduce the cost of providing courses, which are in some cases excessive.
I was pleased to hear that the Minister agreed with the point that I had made, and that he said that pressure will be put on universities to ensure that efficiencies are made before tuition fees are increased.
I hope that this will be the case, and I will continue to press the Minister to ensure that that pressure is applied.
Many of my constituents are understandably very concerned about the rising cost of university education and I hope that universities will seriously consider how they can be more efficient rather than just see fee increases as an answer to reduced government funding.”