British university students protest planned fee rise

LONDON. November 11. KAZINFORM Tens of thousands of British university students staged a demonstration on Wednesday to protest a planned rise in university tuition fees; Kazinform refers to Xinhua.

Students and lecturers came from across Britain, some of whom smashed windows at Millbank Tower during their march in central London.

The British government confirmed last week that university undergraduate students will be charged tuition fees of up to 9,000 pounds (14,400 U.S. dollars) a year from 2012 from the current 3,290 pounds (5,265 U.S. dollars).

According to the plan, graduates earning more than 21,000 pounds (33,600 U.S. dollars) per year start repaying their loans at 9 percent of their income at a real rate of interest, up from the current threshold of 15,000 pounds (24,000 U.S. dollars), with outstanding loans written off after 30 years; Kazinform cites Xinhua.

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