Calls For GBP3,000 Rise In University Tuition Fees

Wed, 18 Mar 2009

Vice-chancellors at some of Britain’s top universities have called for student tuition fees to be raised to between £6,000 and £7,000, more than double the current fee of £3,000 a year.

New research by Universities UK, which represents the heads of higher education bodies, found that university chiefs want to see a large increase in the cost of tuition fees to help cope with rising operating costs which are growing faster than the rate of inflation rate .

The Universities UK report studied the likely impact of changes to the university fee system ahead of Government plans to review tuition fees later this year, and set out a range of different fee scenarios.

It questioned vice-chancellors from 12 universities who believed an average fee of around £6,500 would be needed to secure long-term funding for teaching .

The report suggests that raising fees to £5,000 would have little effect on students, but also claims there is evidence that fees of £7,000 "may discourage some from enrolling in higher education" .

The study also suggests that increasing fees to £7,000 would leave the average graduate with a total debt of £32,400 after three years of study .

Professor Rick Trainor, president of Universities UK, said the report "will help universities to make informed judgements about the effect of future fee and funding regimes".

He added: "UK higher education requires further injections of resource, from whatever source, particularly for teaching and learning. This is essential if we are to meet the rising expectations of UK and overseas students as well as employers."

But Wes Streeting, president of the National Union of Students (NUS), argued: "In the context of the current recession, it is extremely arrogant for university vice-chancellors to be fantasising about charging their students even higher fees and plunging them into over £32,000 of debt ."

"We believe that higher education should be free at the point of use for all students, with graduates making a contribution according to how much they are benefiting financially from their own use of the system."

Streeting added that hundreds of students from across the country will be attending an event organised by the NUS to put forward a "radical proposal for an alternative system" which will be fairer to students, but still generate much-needed income for the sector.
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