Tag: KU Leuven Studentenraad

The following is the text that was read by the students that filled the poll that STURA was doing (in march-may 2019 about the increase of the tuition fees). It can be considered as a summary of the facts that STURA has researched, and it might be useful as a reference for future discussions about the issue.

The poll was made in this page: http://www.sturakuleuven.be/en/tuition/

What Are These Raises Exactly?

In 2014 the Flemish government stipulated some changes regarding all tuition fees for the Flemish universities. Apart from the raises to €922,3 for all EEA-students, it was decided that no limit would exist on the fees for students from outside the European Economic Area. The legal reasoning behind this is that no taxes benefiting the EEA are being paid by these students.

The KU Leuven then introduced three categories of possible raised tuition fees, €1750, €3500 and €6000. From thereon, faculties could decide autonomously which tariff they installed for non-EEA students. Four years after the changes in the decree, 11 of 16 faculties have gradually raised at least one of their programmes. This has hence been a process over a longer period of time.

STURA, the official representation of the students with the authorities of KU Leuven, is conducting a poll about the opinion of the students regarding the issue of the tuition fees. The poll can be found here:

It is relevant to notice that STURA has resisted to actually make any official statement about the issue for many months because they “ignore” the actual opinion of the students that they should defend, so they “need” the poll to justify any future action they take.

This is an idea that has slowed down extremely the protest against tuition fees for many months. However, finally they can get the data they ask for, so it is important to fill the poll.

However, as STURA is very considerate of neutrality, in the name of democracy, the poll has many questions that might seem strange and hence have been subject to criticism. Here we present you a detailed exposition -and some comments- of the questions in the poll, so you know what to expect.