国际英语资讯:British PM backs cut in tuition fees as part of shake-up of post-18 education_时事

国际英语资讯:British PM backs cut in tuition fees as part of shake-up of post-18 education

In return, fees should be cut from 11,683 dollars a year to 9,473 dollars, with the interest rate on loans reduced to the level of inflation while they are studying.

May described progress as being too slow with some universities failing to improve their intake of students from disadvantaged backgrounds for the first time in more than a decade.

The measure to help less well-off students could cost the government several billion dollars a year, the report says.

Urging her successor as prime minister to restore student grants, May said Thursday it would be up to the government to decide, at its upcoming Spending Review, whether to follow the recommendation.

May said: "Removing maintenance grants from the least well-off students has not worked, and I believe it is time to bring them back," adding more must be done for the 50 percent of young people who do not go to university.

The Times newspaper in London said it would mean some students still paying off their student debts into their 60s.

The Times quoted Bill Rammell, vice-chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire and a former higher education minister, describing the proposal as "a complete con" saying it would lead to students contributing more to the cost of their university education.

In Germany, 20 percent of 25-year-olds hold a higher technical qualification, compared to Britain where it is just 4 percent, said the Department for Education.