2011 year in review : Global changes in tuition fee policies and student assistance

In this, the second edition of Year in Review: Tuition Fees and Student Assistance, we outline the major changes related to higher education affordability around the world in 2011. [...] In Brazil, the investment Program for the Support for Restoration and Expansion Plan of Federal Universities (REUNI) created in 2007 is aimed at doubling the number of students in public institution in four years. [...] In OECD countries, the combination of a looming demographic crunch and the realities of public finance in an era of low growth and substantial public debts means that we may have hit “Peak Higher Education.” Across the OECD as a whole, government support for education only barely kept up with inflation in 2011 and the outlook for 2012 looks bleak given the debt crisis in the Eurozone. [...] In Ireland, for example, no tuition fees are charged, but the registration fees are comparable to the level of tuition fees in many countries and were increased by €500 in 2011 to €2,000. [...] Chapter 2: Types of Tuition Fee Policies and Student Financial Assistance Policies Worldwide Chapter 3: Global trends in tuition fee policy and financial assistance Of the 37 countries where data was available, tuition fees in 2011 remained unchanged in 19 of the G-40 countries and increased in 18; of these, ten saw increases at or below the level of inflation leaving only eight where the increase