London: With tuition fees set to soar in Britain, it's time to ask if there is an alternative for students seeking higher education. While courses in mainland Eur-ope vary in terms of fees, student rents are almost universally cheaper. And lower-priced homes could prove a worthwhile investment in the long-term.

The Coalition government has removed tuition fee caps, which means that from 2012 universities will be allowed to charge up to £9,000 (Dh52,893) a year.

Government figures show that the number of students from other European Union countries starting at British universities in 2010 rose 7.2 per cent to 22,000, while the number of UK students dropped by 0.2 per cent to 421,288.

But it works both ways. Most EU countries have deals whereby young people from other member nations can study at the same rates as domestic students and many are lower than those proposed for the UK from 2012. Combine lower-cost education with a shrewd property investment and tuition fees suddenly look a lot less of a problem.

Germany

The best regarded universities in the country include those in Munich, at Lake Constance near the border with Switzerland, Freiburg, Karlsruhe, Hamburg, Aachen and Berlin.

House prices in provincial German cities are about 50 per cent of those in Britain, which means you can buy a detached family house for £150,000. But in the big cities like Hamburg, Berlin, Munich and Cologne they are about 80 per cent of the prices when compared top British locations.

Netherlands

The Dutch universities at Utrecht and Leiden feature in the top 20 universities in Europe, according to Academic Ranking of World Universities prepared by academics at Shanghai University.

Despite gentle price falls in most areas over the past three years, property is expensive to buy in the Netherlands, especially Amsterdam. Prices have stabilised in provincial cities, but even after recent drops the average home costs about £198,000, some 20 per cent more than in Britain. In Amsterdam, a typical home is £220,000, but those in the centre, close to the canals, can fetch over £1 million; apartments in this area are typically over £400,000.

Spain

Spain has no fewer than 70 colleges. Most are in Madrid, Barcelona and Valencia. Rental and sale prices are very low in the whole of Spain now because of a glut of homes available and wider economic problems. In the first three months of this year alone, more than 27,500 homes have been repossessed. These are often let or sold off cheaply by banks, anxious to recoup lost income.

Ireland

Ironically, there has been a large rise in students from the Republic of Ireland coming to Britain to study because of high tuition fees there. But the increase in fees in 2012 will mean we will overtake Ireland.

Like Spain, the Irish housing market is in poor shape. The average cost of a home is now £169,000, down 36 per cent from its 2006 peak. But prices in the centre of Dublin are now extremely cheap by capital city standards — you can get a typical one-bedroom apartment, for around £125,000.

Belgium

It might be small, but this country has well-regarded universities. House prices have not fallen as much as in most mainland European cities and some areas are expensive. Student authorities say private flats can be found for as little as £150 a month.