FinST UK Cohort 1 : 18th – 27th September 2011 Thoughts and Experiences

Participants of FinST UK Michal Melichárek Anglo-American University (Prague) – (International relations (School of International relations and Diplomacy) – Bachelor degree. National Student Involvement: Student Chamber of Higher Educational Institutions – Chairman of Committee for Social and Economy Affairs

Participants of FinST UK Cohort 1:(18th September – 27th September): Jarmo Kallunki(Finland), Jurita Krüma (Latvia) Cohort 2:(22nd September – 1st October): Rui Campos(Portugal), Thibaut Servant (France), Helgi Sammelselg(Estonia)

FinST UK – What was it about? FinST = Financing the Students´ future Daily task – Comparison of National financial systems of Higher Education – Czech Republic, Finland and Latvia VS each other VS UK – Portugal, France, Estonia VS each other VS UK Comparison of what? – strengths, weaknesses, overall system Seeking for – – What we can learn from each other, – What is the best possible solution, What is the Future

FinST UK – more than financing? FinST UK – Far beyond borders – Not only comparison and study of different models BUT!!!

Different sessions and meetings through exchange – the Agenda – Study of NUS UK system – Deeper to UK system – study of local student Unions (University of Bucks and East London) How they deal with financing, recruitment and overall activities – UK Higher Education policies and NUS´ proposals: gathering, observation and study – Policy making system, Policy reaction, Policy lobbing – Marketing, Communication and PR – Campaigns and Activism – UK Parliament excursion

FinST UK – Future ways Final Solution of Another point of Disagreement ? – The general believe that the Higher Education must be necessarily free is nonsense. – On the one hand, Benefits for the state are more than obvious, increase of general level of education, research, development and progress as well as long-term increase in economic productivity – On the other hand, the education is not,,perpetuum mobile´´ and cannot be financed only from government and state budgets. – Even though the Higher Education must have some kind of the financial participation, the tuition fee is not a future.

Final Solution? 1.General tax for education – General taxation is political more acceptable – But the general tax should be not only for Universities but also for primary as well as secondary education. – In general tax is the possibility to decision making, meaning that people can decided to which sector they want to their tax, should not be based on whole tax, but only on limited amount in order to preserve balance between all sectors. – Companies should have tax break and tax benefits

Final Solution? 2.Progressive taxation – the model of NUS UK – see blueprint – The progressive taxation seems to be one of the biggest futures in Higher Education. – Education is fertile ground for students; education makes them possible to be better off than non-educated part of the society in terms of wealth meaning not only material wealth but also experience, knowledge and skills gained. – Starting on 0.5% and ending up at 2.5% for the wealthiest can bring over 8.5 billion £ in 40 years each year without any government support. – Money will go to the trust, so other expenses for collection will be limited to minimum. Government will need to put money into trust in the beginning but will lowering its debt by every year till 17th year, – After 17 the system is highly profitable – around 5 billion £ just from taxes every year.

The End Thank you for your attention If you have any questions, please, do not hesitate to ask Michal Melichárek Chairman of Committee for Social and Economic Affairs at Student Chamber of the Council of Higher Education Institutions