(Top) Manchester University; and students at the School of Clinical Dentistry, Sheffield University

STUDENTS are paying £54,000 (Rs 38,53,365) a year in tuition fees at a leading British university, making their masters degrees among the most expensive in the country.

Postgraduates studying specialist clinical dentistry at the University of Manchester are charged £1,62,000 (Rs 1,15,60,888) in fees over their three-year course. Students also have to pay their living expenses.

The fees are charged by the university’s school of dentistry for master of science degrees aimed at international students, who are often supported by their governments or other sponsors.

Unlike tuition fees for British and European Union undergraduates, universities must charge at least the full cost to overseas students and most levy higher fees for postgraduate international students.

One sponsor of overseas students told The Times it had refused to send graduates on Manchester’s three-year MSc in dentistry, saying: “It is too much. We could fund two or three students for that amount.”

With university budgets under pressure from government spending cuts, increasing the number of international students and raising their fees is one option for raising revenue.

Dominic Scott, chief executive of the UK Council for International Student Affairs, an independent body that advises students, said: “I have never heard of anyone charging that sort of price. The biggest prices have tended to be from London and Manchester business schools... They tend to have corporate sponsorship and it is companies paying the fees.”

London Business School charges £49,900 (Rs 35,60,948) for its master of business administration (MBA), which is taught for between 15 and 21 months and offered to bankers, consultants and company executives seeking a “vertical shift” in their careers.

For dentistry, the most expensive clinical discipline because of its intensive equipment needs and small teaching groups, fees across 90 per cent of postgraduate degrees ranged between £21,400 and £32,700 (Rs 15,27,120 and Rs 23,33,354), according to a survey by the action group Universities UK.

Cardiff University charges £45,000 (Rs 32,11,038) for a course similar to the one at Manchester and King’s College London charges £31,820 (Rs 22,59,220) for a three- year MSc in orthodontics. Manchester is rated top of the 13 dental schools in The Times Good University Guide 2011.

Manchester’s school of dentistry defended its fees. Dr Iain Pretty, its director of graduate education, said: “Invaluable training, which UK students are able to receive through the NHS, is costly and our fees reflect this.

“Our one-year postgraduate degree provides a less expensive option but Manchester’s fees are comparable with dental schools here and abroad, for the degree programmes we offer, given our reputation as a world-class provider of dental education.”

PG courses in top UK dental schools

► Glasgow University (www.gla.ac.uk/schools/dental)

● Masters in Fixed and Removable Prosthodontics (MSc — Dent Sci),
● Masters in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (MPhil)
● Doctorate in Orthodontics (DclinDent)
● Masters in Primary Dental Care (MSc — Dent Sci)

► Newcastle University (www.ncl.ac.uk/dental)

● Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Endodontics
● Postgraduate Certificate in Clinical Implant Dentistry
● Postgraduate Diploma in Conscious Sedation In Dentistry
● Masters in Restorative Dentistry
● Masters in Conscious Sedation in Dentistry

► University of Manchester (www.dentistry.manchester.ac.uk)

● Masters in Endodontics (MSc-Clin)
● Masters in Fixed and Removable Prosthodontics (MSc-Clin)
● Masters in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (MSc-Clin)
● Masters in Orthodontics (MSc-Clin)
● Masters in Periodontology (MSc-Clin)

► Sheffield University (www.shef.ac.uk/dentalschool)

● Masters in Dental Implantology (MMedSci)
● Masters in Dental Public Health (MDPH)
● Masters in Orthodontics (MClinDent)
● Masters in Paediatric Dentistry (MClinDent)
● Masters in Periodontics (MClinDent)
● Masters in Restorative Dentistry (MMedSci)

► Leeds University (www.leeds.ac.uk/dental/prospective_students/postgraduate)

● Masters in Clinical Dentistry (MclinDent)
● Diploma in Restorative Dentistry (Diploma)
● Master of Philosophy (M.Phil)
● Masters in Dental Surgery (MDS)

► University of Cardiff (www.cardiff.ac.uk/dentl/degreeprogrammes/postgraduate)

● Masters in Orthodontics (MScD)
● Masters in Implantology (MSc)
● Masters in Tissue Engineering (MSc)
● Masters in Conscious Sedation (MSc)
● Masters in Orthodentics (MclinDent)

► University of Bristol (www.bristol.ac.uk/dental/postgraduates)

● Masters in Dental Implantology (MSc)
● Diploma in Dental Studies (DPDS)
● Diploma in Orthodontics (DDS )

► King’s College London, School of Dentistry (www.kcl.ac.uk/schools/dentistry/pg)

● Postgraduate in Conscious Sedation for Dentistry
● Masters in Dental Public Health
● Masters in Endodontology (MClinDent)
● Masters in Fixed and Removable Prosthodontics (MClinDent)
● Masters in Maxillofacial and Craniofacial Technology (MSc)
● Masters in Orthodontics (MSc)
● Masters in Paediatric Dentistry (MSc)
● Masters in Periodontology (MclinDent)
● Masters in Prosthodontics (MclinDent)
● Masters in Sedation and Special Care Dentistry (MSc)
● Mphil/PhD in Dentistry & Oral Science

► Liverpool University Dental School (www.liv.ac.uk/luds)

● Postgraduate Cerificate in Conscious Sedation
● Professional Doctorate in Orthodontics

► The University of Dundee Dental Schoo (www.dundee.ac.uk/postgraduate/courses/dentistry_postgraduate_courses.htm)

● Masters in Prosthodontics (MDSc)

THE TIMES, LONDON