You are AGAINST the rise in tuition fees

From September 2012 English Universities will be able to charge tuition fees of up to £ 9,000 a year. In order to go to University, the majority of British students will have to take out a loan from a bank which they will repay when they work and when their annual salary reaches £ 21,000 a year.

You are an English student in his / her final year in secondary school and you have planned to go to University next year. You want to become a pharmacist in the future and as you don't live far from Medway School of Pharmacy you have started to collect information on this University. You have made an appointment with the Dean of the School because you would like to talk with him about tuition fees his at his University

You think that this rise is unfair and that it could lead to students coming from poor social backgrounds like you to be prevented from going to University. You also think that studying should be free in England and that the government should finance education.

You know he supports the rise in tuition fees but you definitely think that £ 9, 000 is too expensive for you because that only covers university fees and not your accommodation.

Collect as much information as you can on the web using the links below and develop your arguments in order to prepare the meeting with the Dean to convince him of reducing the amount of the fees as you know that he won't abolish them altogether (the maximum that you are willing to pay is between £4,000 and £5, 000 ).

PREPARATION OF YOUR MEETING WITH THE DEAN

TOOLBOX

You could find these three sites helpful for your reading:

WORDREFERENCE: If you need to check some vocabulary...

English-French dictionary: http://www.wordreference.com/fren/pole

MERRIAM-WEBSTER: If you want to check the pronunciation of some words...

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fees

This site will help you prepare the debate :

http://www.scribd.com/doc/17655885/Useful-Debate-Vocabulary

ACTIVITY 1

You have found the following video on the web in which somebody is talking about tuition fees. Watch the video and pick up all relevant ideas that are given by the interviewee on the rise in tuition fees.

You could draw a table with a «for» column and another one with an «against» column.

ACTIVITY 2

Read the following text from BBC News.

Draw a list of the reasons why some universities may have to drop the £ 9,000 fees.

ACTIVITY 3

Go to BBC News and enter the data in the table provided to calculate how much your studies could cost you if Medway School of pharmacy raises its fees to £ 9,000....

FINAL STEP BEFORE THE MEETING

You have now collected information on tuition fees and should have prepared your ideas for the meeting.

Complete these questions to prepare the debate:

1) What is your main argument ?

2) What evidence or examples can you give ?

3) What secondary arguments can you make ? What evidence will you present ?

4) What arguments do you anticipate your opponent will make ?

5) What counter-arguments can you bring up? How can you attack the Dean's position?

AND NOW THE MEETING WITH THE DEAN

Talk to the Dean of Medway School of Pharmacy and try to convince him not to increase tuition fees at his University. Tell him that your are extremely interested in studying Pharmacy at his University but fear, as you come from a middle class background, that you will be unable to apply if tuition fees are increased to £9000.