The Educational Policy Institute, a Canadian research organisation, has found that Ireland was the cheapest of 15 countries whose costs it surveyed.

The research found that the average combined cost of education and living expenses for a student attending college in Ireland was €6,099 in 2002-2003, compared with €11,073 in Britain and €14,891 in America. The cost of going to a third-level institution was marginally lower in five countries.

But, when expressed as a percentage of per capita gross domestic product, Irish costs were the second lowest, at 17.76%, after the Flemish part of Belgium. It was 43.75% in Britain, 42.70% in America, and 23.54% in Germany.

Alex Usher, vice-president of the Educational Policy Institute and co-author of the report, said: “There are two ways of looking at the figures for Ireland. Firstly, students get a pretty good deal in Ireland. They pay less for their education than students in the other English-speaking countries surveyed but, unlike most of continental Europe (where low fees result in higher drop-out rates), they don’t pay the penalty of lower access and completion rates.”

“The other way of looking at it is government and other education areas may not be getting such a good deal. If similar access levels can be achieved without full subsidising of tuition, why should it continue to be subsidised?” In terms of “who gets to participate in higher education”, Ireland faired less well in the study, ranking seventh after Britain and America.

Rory Hearne, the vice-president of the Union of Students in Ireland, said: “The costs of third-level education are growing due to huge increases in registration costs which are fees by the back door.

“A UCI cost-of-living survey carried out three years ago found a figure of around €6,000 but we now estimate average costs are around €8,000.”

• A university in the UK has told its admissions tutors to discriminate in favour of state school pupils at the expense of those from the private sector.

  The policy is revealed in an e-mail from Professor Ella Ritchie, the pro-vice-chancellor of Newcastle University, to staff in charge of selecting undergraduates

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