Vol. 459 No. 7
28 Miss Harney asked the Minister for Education the plans, if any, she has for ensuring that tuition fees for post-graduate courses, which are covered by the abolition of third-level fees, are not increased at unreasonable rates. [18770/95]
The level of fees for post-graduate courses in the university sector is a matter for the individual third-level institutions themselves to decide. Generally, post-graduate fees are lower than undergraduate fees. I understand that the application of the fee increases in 1995 will still leave post-graduate fees, on average, lower than undergraduate fees.
The universities are required to operate within balanced budgets by the Higher Education Authority. The budgets approved by the Higher Education Authority comprise an Exchequer grant and an amount of income to be generated by the colleges from fees and other activities.
The Higher Education Authority monitors fee levels in the colleges and I expect that any future increases in fees would not be unreasonable.
