Reading comprehension test

Tuition fees gain allure in cash-hit European campuses Luke Harding in Berlin

Monday October 13 The Guardian

1

[...]

Like many universities in Europe, Humboldt - founded in 1810 by the statesman Wilhelm von Humboldt - is overcrowded and under-funded. With German universities in crisis, and no help forthcoming from the government, vice-chancellors in Germany are now contemplating the previously unthinkable: tuition fees.

2

"We've got two choices. One of them is for Germany to become merely average. The other is for us to really invest in education and research," said Jürgen Mylnek, the Humboldt's president. "If the public sector isn't able to give us the money we need alternatives. In the mid to long-term there is no way round tuition fees."

3

[...]

Five years after Britain introduced tuition fees, the rest of Europe is following suit. Holland, Austria, Italy, Spain and Portugal have all recently introduced tuition fees ranging from €600 to €1,450 a year. France has modest fees too; while in Germany a law that prevents them from being charged is now being challenged.

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It is only in relatively affluent Scandinavian countries like Sweden, Finland and Denmark that the principle of free education has not received a battering. In Sweden there are no tuition fees. Nor is there any prospect of introducing them. [...] The funding system, which dates from the early 1990s, is generous.

5

The right and left in Sweden agree that tuition fees are a bad idea. "There may be some good arguments for having such a system but it is not on the agenda," Henrik von Sydow, a conservative MP said. "We

don't want to have a system where students have to pay for higher education.” [...] But in struggling Euro-zone countries like Germany - and to a lesser extent Holland and France - tuition fees are now on the agenda.

6

[...]

The prospect of tuition fees has caused dismay among students, many of whom already work to make ends meet. Student union president Thomas Sieron said that fees would be a disaster.

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The extra money would not be invested in universities; instead Berlin and other federal regions would simply cut higher education budgets even more, he said. Tuition fees would also deter students from poor backgrounds from going to university - an argument that student unions in Britain have deployed to little effect.

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[...]

Supporters of tuition fees, meanwhile, argue that fees would not only generate extra revenue for the hard-pressed higher education sector, but they might also encourage students to take their studies more seriously. In France anyone with a baccalaureat - France's A-levels - can in theory attend the university course of his or her choosing. This democratic, if impractical, principal creates serious problems of overcrowding and de-motivation, and of course a sky-high dropout rate.

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[...]

In Italy, dropout rates are also high. Anyone who obtains the secondary school certificate - the Italian equivalent of A-levels - has a right to go to university. But only 30% of Italian students graduate. "Italians have developed a habit of 'parking' themselves in universities while they make up their minds what to do with their lives," said Franco Pavoncello, a political scientist at John Cabot University in Rome.

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[...]

Most German students do not graduate until the age of 26. There are no fees, and little financial or institutional pressure for them to sit final exams; as a result, middle-aged students are commonplace. Sitting in Humboldt's student canteen, Jana Wendering - a 22-year-old law student - said she was in favour of tuition fees, provided hard-up students could get scholarships. "Fees might be an incentive for people

to work a bit harder," she mused, over a plate of goulash.

11

[...]

In Britain, of course, the argument has already moved on, with the education secretary, Charles Clarke, proposing top-up fees, which would see tuition fees rise from £1,025 a year to as much as £3,000. British fees are already the highest in Europe, followed by Holland, which charges its students €1,445 (£960) a year. But student funding in Holland is fairly generous: all Dutch students are entitled to a loan of €2,640 (£1,760) a year, which automatically becomes a gift or a grant if they subsequently meet certain minimum academic criteria, which most do.

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The fear, among students in European countries where education is free, is that once tuition fees are introduced the cost of education will increase. University presidents admit tuition fees of, say, €1,000 a year will not be enough in the long run.

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"The figure is too low. You can't fund a world-class university on €1,000," said Dieter Lenzen, the president of Berlin's Freie Universität, which was founded in 1948 in the American sector of Berlin. "How are we expected to compete with American universities which charge up to $28,000 a year? Colombia University has recently spent $145m on multi-media computers."

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With fees now a reality across much of the EU, Britain does appear, for once, to be leading in Europe. But many students believe this is a dismal trend. "Just because Europe is moving in a certain direction doesn't mean this is the right direction," Colin Töck, of Germany's national union of students, lamented. [...]

TASK 1: Multiple Choice Questions

Tick the correct option(s) in the following Multiple Choice Tasks. Bear in mind that more than one statement will be correct in some tasks. If more than one statement is correct, the number of correct statements is given in brackets.

1. According to the text, Germany

a. changed the laws in order to introduce fees.

b. has made attempts to change the laws in order to introduce fees. c. has not made moves on changing the laws in order to introduce fees. d. successfully challenged the laws in order to introduce fees.

2. According to the text, in Sweden there are no fees (2) a. although they have been on the agenda.

b. as the government does not want to charge students c. due to disagreement among the political parties. d. due to financial support from the government. 3. According to the text, fees in Germany would

a. be invested in education funds.

b. facilitate university access for disadvantaged students. c. force students to work.

d. make students take their courses seriously.

4. According to the text, consequences of free university access are (2) a. high numbers of dropouts.

b. many older students.

c. motivation but overcrowding. d. too many graduates.

5. According to a student, scholarships should be given to students who a. are poorer.

b. have best results.

c. work during their studies. d. work hardest.

6. According to the text, Britain discusses a. fees of almost ₤2,000.

b. fees of ₤1,025.

c. increasing fees by almost ₤2,000. d. increasing fees by ₤3,000.

7. According to the text, Dutch students (2) a. get a loan which most have to pay back. b. get a loan which some may keep.

TASK 2: True – False – Not given

Read through the statements 1-9. Are they “true” or “false”? If there is not enough information to answer, choose “not given”.

1 The German government has long contemplated tuition fees.

□ True □ False □ Not given

2 If Germany wants to invest in education one possibility would be money from the state.

□ True □ False □ Not given

3 France has lower fees compared to other European countries.

□ True □ False □ Not given

4 Universities in Scandinavia are supported with enough money, which makes fees unnecessary.

□ True □ False □ Not given

5 In France students with better grades in their baccalaureat are privileged in their choice of university courses.

□ True □ False □ Not given

6 About two thirds of Italian students do not finish their studies.

□ True □ False □ Not given

7 In Germany scholarships are planned to be given to hard-working students.

□ True □ False □ Not given

8 The British education secretary has introduced fees of ₤3,000 a year.

□ True □ False □ Not given

9 European students who already have to pay fees are afraid of increasing expenses of education.

TASK 3: Matching

The following statements are summaries of the single paragraphs. Match the most appropriate statement to each of the paragraphs by indicating the letter of the statement next to the number of the paragraph in the grid. There are more statements than paragraphs but match only one statement to each paragraph! One example has already been done for you.

paragraph statement paragraph statement

1 8 2 9 3 10 4 11 5 12 6 13 7 14 C

A America as model for tuition fees B Amounts of tuition fees

C Are tuition fees a step in the right direction? D Depressed about tuition fees

E Drastic dropout rates

F Anxious prospect of increasing tuition fees G Negative preview of tuition fees

H No need for tuition fees I No wish for tuition fees

J Tuition fees against dropout rates K Tuition fees against lazy students L Tuition fees against long-time studies M Tuition fees against old students

N Tuition fees against overcrowded and under-funded universities O Tuition fees as a means of competition

P Britain as forerunner

Q Tuition fees too low to compete with other countries R Tuition fees to spend on universities