The Great British Escape

Amid the fury at the Browne Review's proposal to catapult the cap on UK tuition fees into the stratosphere (up to £10,000 per year), a typically deadpan nugget of truth (with a side order of despair) was served to my class by our university tutor: our year could well be one of the last who needn't have money to burn to study at university for the foreseeable future. It sounds like poor teenagers will have to grill hamburgers a little longer before they enrol in an Applied Golf Management Studies Degree.
So, who saw this coming? Anyone with a vision more acute than Mr Magoo, to tell you the truth. The Lib-Con coalition may pose as some sort of 'Best of' political party fusion but the Tory domination is as clear as day. David Cameron is the one driving the country into a rich man's haven whilst Nick Clegg is little more than a grinning bozo in his sidecar. Students aren't just being sold down the river; they're being pushed towards the edge of a waterfall with a hoard of blood-thirsty, smartly dressed sharks lurking at the bottom. Still, perhaps university degrees are worth the tens of thousands of pounds for which students will have to fork out. It's not like Jobcentre queues are getting longer or degrees are becoming less worthwhile. Oh, wait...
The solution, it has been manifested, may be abroad. Holland's Maastricht University has been fluttering its eyelashes to UK students with its seductive £1500 a year tuition fees, availability of places and English speaking courses, not to mention the added bonus of being in the top 1% of the world's universities. And though China's tuition fees may be steep, Westerners can expect to be showered with free booze at their clubs and bars, for being Westerners. All in all, universities overseas must be rubbing their hands in glee at the prospect of bringing in more UK students, whilst British universities will be hanging their heads in anguish at the distinct likelihood of losing scores of foreign students.
As always, thousands of soon-to-be UK students will currently be travelling continents such as Asia, filling their gap year with new, life affirming experiences before embarking a university course in 2011. With a nebulous financial future, the percentage of those who have been alerted to the perks of overseas courses is unclear, but one thing's for sure, they'd be better off pitching their tents and seeking worldly wisdom from local Buddhists than pursuing an education in the United Kingdom.