The previous Government established a Review of Higher Education Funding and Student Finance chaired by Lord Browne. The published report was recently endorsed by the Government. The Government has now released its proposals for Higher Education funding in light of forthcoming legislation on this issue.

I welcome the commitment that there should be no upfront tuition fees for students. I believe that this would have hit families from lower economic backgrounds and would have deterred many from entering into the Higher Education sector. I believe the Government is making positive steps to attract students from lower-income backgrounds with the proposals it has put forward.

The Browne Review proposed an unlimited cap on fees. The Government has however decided to cap fees at a lower threshold of £6,000 and an upper threshold of £9,000. Universities will be free to set their own fees and those wishing to charge more than the lower threshold will need to increase its efforts to attract students from lower-income families. Such moves will be regulated by the Office for Fair Access. A £150 million National Scholarship Programme has been announced to which upper threshold universities will be expected to contribute funds.

Moreover, student support will be extended to increasing the maintenance grants available and for those students who cannot commit to full-time study; part-time students will thus have as equal access to student loans as full-time students. I welcome such moves as I believe that Higher Education opportunities should be available to all those that seek it.

I understand the anxieties but the policy on tuition fees is really not a bad one. It is both workable and reasonably progressive. Repayments will begin at a higher level, when a graduate is earning £21,000 a year rather than the current £15,000. The least affluent third of graduates will pay less; the more affluent third will generally pay more. Exemptions for students from poorer households will continue. Not only will graduates pay back less per month than they do under current arrangements, the bottom 20% of earners will pay back less in total.

That strikes me as more sensible than the alternative: deeper cuts to the budgets for training, skills, science and Further Education. It is also more equitable than expecting all taxpayers to foot the bill for the benefit of graduates who can generally expect to earn substantially more than the average citizen. If it makes students more demanding and less tolerant of courses which are poor value, and if it increases pressure on universities to weed out underperforming academics and lousy teachers, that’s to the good.

The proposals will be implemented for the 2012-13 academic year and will not affect current students and graduates. The Coalition Government is also expected to publish a Higher Education White Paper on the wider sector in the coming months.

For further information on the proposals click here

Click here for information on the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills website  

Article by the Prime Minister - Evening Standard - 30th November 2010

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