It was announced that the review will be led by Lord Browne, the former chief executive of BP. The seven-strong review team will feature two university vice-chancellors, a former civil servant, a banker, an economist and a student. Photo: PA
Undergraduates may ultimately pay as much as £7,000-a-year – more than double the existing rate – following the start of the long-awaited inquiry.
The National Union of Students warned that the shake-up could create a "market" in higher education, with top universities charging the most and poorer teenagers being consigned to "bargin basement" institutions.
The comments came as the Government unveiled the scope of a major review of the currnet system of student fees, grants and loans on Monday.
It was announced that the review will be led by Lord Browne, the former chief executive of BP. The seven-strong review team will feature two university vice-chancellors, a former civil servant, a banker, an economist and a student.
The announcement followed demands that the review should not be turned into a “cosy stitch-up” led by “Government patsies” who backed a fee increase.
Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, said the review team would examine the “balance of contributions to universities by taxpayers, students, graduates and employers”.
It is also being asked to assess the impact of fees – currently set at £3,225 a year – on the drive to widen access to courses among poor students. The move could raise the prospect that any increase in fees would be conditional on improving teaching and meeting targets to increase the number of teenagers from the most deprived backgrounds. The current system of heavily-subsidised student loans could also be axed in favour of loans set at commercial interest rates.
Launching the review, Lord Mandelson insisted that the introduction of higher fees in 2006 had not hit student recruitment.
“Variable tuition fees provide institutions with a secure income stream worth £1.3bn, helping to sustain the long-term financial health and viability of the sector,” he said. “Since they were introduced student numbers have continued to rise, along with the numbers coming from lower-income backgrounds.”
The review's final recommendations are not expected to be published until next summer.
It prompted claims on Monday from the Liberal Democrats that the review was “nothing but a conspiracy between Labour and the Tories designed to keep plans to hike up tuition fees off the agenda until after the General Election”.
Pressure is already mounting on Labour and the Conservatives to sanction a significant increase in tuition fees. A report earlier this year from Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, said fees could increase to £5,000 without harming student recruitment, while other universities have called for a rise closer to £7,000.
Sir Roy Anderson, rector of Imperial College London, said the current cap on tuition fees should be “relaxed” altogether to allow universities to charge as much as £12,000.
Wes Streeting, president of the National Union of Students, said: “There is a real danger that this review will pave the way for higher fees and a market in prices that would see poorer students priced out of more prestigious universities and other students and universities consigned to the ‘bargain basement’.
“This would be a disaster for UK higher education and must not be allowed to happen. Members of the review should be in no doubt about the scale of public opposition to a hike in fees and the level of student anger about the extent of our indebtedness and the marketisation of our education.”
Lord Browne, one of New Labour's favourite businessmen, resigned from BP in 2007 after a newspaper won a court battle to print details of his private life. It emerged that the businessman lied to the High Court about a four-year gay relationship.
His review team will include Prof David Eastwood, vice-chancellor of Birmingham University and former head of England’s Higher Education Funding Council, and Prof Julia King, vice-chancellor of Aston University.
Sir Michael Barber, a former senior civil servant in the Department for Education and the Prime Minister’s Delivery Unit, will also be on the team alongside Diane Coyle, an economist, Peter Sands, chief executive of Standard Chartered bank, and Rajay Naik, a student leader and trustee of the National Youth Agency.
Lord Browne said: “The review comes at an important time and our task is a serious one: to make recommendations to secure the vitality of higher education in this country while ensuring that finance does not become a barrier to those who have the ability and motivation for further study.”
Student tuition fees could significantly increase under a major Government review
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Originally Posted by Barry Ferguson
