Tuition Fees in The United Kingdom - Introduction of Tuition Fees - The Dearing Report - The Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998

The Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998

The teaching and higher education bill was passed into law on 16 July 1998. In addition to introducing tuition fees, it established General Teaching Councils in England and Wales, introduced measures to reform the teaching profession and gave a provision for certain young workers to have time off for study. Prior to the passing of the act, the House of Lords passed three successive amendments to the bill which would have meant that English, Welsh and Northern Irish students studying in Scotland would pay a total of £3,000 for a four-year course to bring them in line with Scottish students. The amendments were overturned in the Commons but only after David Blunkett promised an independent review of tuition fees and how they operated in Scotland. The length of a typical honours degree in Scotland was four years compared to three years elsewhere in the United Kingdom. The difference presented a potential anomaly for when fees were introduced. It meant that students studying at Scottish universities would be charged an extra year of tuition fees compared with students studying a comparable course elsewhere in the UK. An independent review was led by Sir George Quigley, the Chairman of Ulster Bank, looked into the issue and reported on 29 March 2000. It recommended that a fees concession should be given to students studying at Scottish universities in the final year of a four-year honours degree, if they were domiciled in other parts of the UK. It also recommended that the cost of meeting this provision should be born by the newly established Scottish Executive. The recommendations of the report were accepted by the executive at an estimated cost of between £2.5 million and £3.2 million a year.