The CRef understands the need to increase the cost of tuition fees in higher education by indexing the minerval, which had been frozen since 2011.

However, it also hears the difficulties and understands the reaction of students who consider that the €359 increase from the start of the 2026 academic year, as announced, is too brutal.

The CRef would like to point out that this increase in the minerval will not benefit universities in any way: its sole aim is to help reduce the deficit in the coffers of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation. Subjected to the same budgetary rigor, the universities have once again been definanced: the government has announced a loss of €3.2 million, while in its latest memorandum (pages 7 to 9), CRef warned of the definancing of universities since 2006, which has resulted in a deterioration in staffing conditions[1]. The ongoing reduction in funding per student is thus also affecting success rates, particularly those of students at the start of their course as well as more disadvantaged students.

In the same memorandum, as a reminder, CRef showed that, according to an international comparison of total expenditure per student for the various levels of education, the FWB's higher education handicap, compared with the average for European countries at a comparable level of development, was 18%, which corresponds almost exactly to the deterioration in higher education resources per student over the period 2006 to 2021 (-17%).

Returning to the question of increasing the minerval, CRef also draws attention to the fact that, depending on the scholarship system that is planned to be introduced, it is likely that more students would pay a minerval less high than under the previous system, which raises some doubts as to the real savings that the new measures would allow. In any case, CRef fully defends the need to support students in precarious situations, and stresses the importance of the system being marked out with fairness and clarity.

[1] In its 2018 memorandum, the CRef called for an initial refinancing effort of around €150m in favor of universities over the 2019-2024 legislature. The effort, raised to €80m in 2024 for all higher education establishments - of which €33.3m dedicated to teaching and €17m to research in universities -, while certainly positive, had not, however, reversed the trend in real funding trends seen for many years. In 2023, the CRef reiterated this request for the next legislature, pointing out that, although the amount targeted may seem significant, it would only cover part of the funding shortfall experienced since 2006, without taking into account the continuing increase in the student population. Now, not only has any prospect of refinancing become illusory given the FWB's financial context, but the defi nancing seems to be continuing.

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