Students look to UK to avoid third-level fees

An education analyst has said the Government's decision to look at reintroducing third-level fees here has prompted a rise in applications to British colleges.

UCAS, the British college application service, is reporting a 15% rise in applications this year to English colleges from the Republic.

Scottish applications only rose 10%, even though they do not charge fees.

Donal Kavanagh of Learning Ireland said that apart from the issue of fees, the UK also has the advantage of having more courses and places available.

“It does remove an incentive to stay here. It's not a reason so much to go to the UK as a removal of a reason why you would stay in Ireland.”

Mr. Kavanagh however advised students that they should carry out detailed research before decided to go to college in the UK,

“You should research fully the course and the college, the services on offer to students what the kind of jobs the graduates take up.

“I'd recommend if at all possible paying a visit to the college before accepting any course and if that's not possible speaking to the course director once or twice over the phone.”