UK: Élite universities laud freedom to triple fees

The UK's coalition government is set to allow universities in England to raise their fees up to three-fold, to a maximum of £9,000 (US$14,640) in 2012, providing they take part in a scholarship scheme for poorer students.

Universities UK, the representative body for the sector, claims it will be business as usual for oversees students for the immediate future. However, there would be an immediate knock-on effect on 118,000 students from EU countries studying in the UK, who under EU rules are charged the same rate as local students.

The Russell Group of élite universities welcomed the decision to raise the fee cap, but the million+ group of newer universities expressed "profound concern" and the student and lecturers' unions are planning a protest march in London on 10 November.

The decision follows the announcement of a 40% cut in the university teaching budget announced a fortnight ago. With science, technology, engineering and maths protected, this is expected to hit humanities hard.

A spokesman for UUK said he thought that if home student demand changed over the next decade so would the choice of courses. Arts and humanities "could take a real blow", he said. However, funding for world-class research had been protected. He did not anticipate fees for non-EU overseas students being raised.

"We have had a number of anxious phone calls from overseas, but we were able to reassure them of the same market rate," the spokesman said.

Previously all universities charged a flat rate of £3,250 a year for full-time undergraduates from the UK and the EU, but between £4,000 and £18,000 for non-EU overseas students. A concessionary student loans scheme enables UK and EU students to pay the fees up front.

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, who is in charge of higher education, is facing strong criticism and opposition from his Liberal Democrat colleagues as his party pledged to phase out tuition fees, not increase them, before the last election. But the measure is expected to secure passage through parliament.

The basic threshold for fees will be £6,000 with an absolute limit of £9,000 in exceptional circumstances, Universities Minister David Willetts told parliament on Wednesday. Lord Browne's review of university funding, published last month, recommended no ceiling on fees.

Willetts said there would be a "more progressive repayment structure" with graduates starting to repay their loans when they earned £21,000 instead of £15,000 at present.

All universities that want to charge more than £6,000 will have to take part in a new £150 million national scholarship programme aimed at bright potential students from poor backgrounds. Students will also get an increased non-repayable maintenance allowance of up to £3,250 if their family earns under £25,000.

Graduates earning less than £21,000 per year will continue to pay no real rate of interest on loans but on earnings from £21,000 to £41,000 rates would rise up to inflation plus 3%.

For the first time, part-time students will be entitled to a tuition loan on the same basis as full timers. This support will be available to those studying for at least a third of their time, not half as at present.

Wendy Piatt, Director General of the Russell Group, said lifting the fee cap to £9,000 was a welcome reform that would help universities to maintain and enhance their world-class status. "Increased graduate contributions will provide a life-saving cash infusion for a sector that would otherwise be seriously ailing from the spending review's deep cuts.

"These reforms are the only way for the UK to remain a serious global player in higher education, while our international competitors are pumping billions into their leading universities."

But the million+ group of newer universities said MPs should think again about cutting public investment in undergraduate teaching.

Professor Les Ebdon, Chair of million+ and Vice-chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire, said the reforms would end most public investment in undergraduate teaching.

"The government appears to believe that higher education is only of value to the individual and not to society and the economy. This is not an approach which is being followed in any of the UK's competitor countries. The big risk is that participation and social mobility will be damaged."

But Sir Martin Harris, director of the Office for Fair Access, said the fears that poorer students would be deterred from going onto higher education, expressed when higher fees were introduced in 2006, had not been fulfilled.

"Much credit for this can be given to the access measures that were put in place, including increased student support."

Harris added that these measures would need to be strengthened. "It will be important to make clear to prospective students that there will continue to be no upfront fees, that maintenance support is available and that, after graduation, monthly loan repayment rates will actually be lower under the new system."

Aaron Porter, president of the National Union of Students, accused the Liberal Democrats of betrayal and warned them of a backlash at the ballot box in the next election. He called the reforms an "unprecedented ideological move that will push all of the costs of higher education onto the shoulders of students who already face much of the financial consequence of the economic downturn".

The University and College Union called the fee increase a "stealth tax on aspiration and learning". An analysis of the 9% repayment of tax through earnings over £21,000 showed that graduates will be hit with bills almost 20% higher than non-graduates.

Sally Hunt, UCU general secretary, said: "The coalition is introducing a learning tax that will saddle the next generation of professionals with years of lost revenue. The message this sends is that in the UK we now penalise aspiration rather than encourage it."