heystudents.com

According to a report published by Universities UK, University Tuition fees need to rise significantly to maintain decent teaching standards at institutions across England.

The conclusions are made by Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, ahead of an official Government review of tuition fees later this year.

“This Universities UK [UUK] report assumes that higher fees are inevitable, and that the shambolic current system of student support will remain in place.”

It comes despite warnings from accountants that a similar rise would lead to average student debts of £32,000. Critics warned that any major increase would prove hugely unpopular with students and would hit those from middle-class families hardest because many are ineligible for grants.

Wes Streeting, president of the National Union of Students, said: “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.

At the moment, students are charged up to £3,145-a-year in fees. Those from households earning less than £25,000 are eligible for a full grant of £2,835 and at least two thirds of undergraduates get at least some subsidy. Students can also take out low-interest Government loans.

University leaders quizzed as part of the report “suggested a very wide range in the level of fee that would be required” but the “median figure was around £6,500″, said the report.

It claimed undergraduates would not react if fees were raised to £5,000, but admitted they would begin to turn their backs on university if costs increased to £7,000.

“There was a general recognition of the political difficulties for the Government in going to Parliament to seek a substantial increase in the fee cap,” said the report. “Yet, without an increase, much undergraduate teaching would be increasingly unsustainable after 2010.”

The report said if fees increased to £5,000-a-year – and the existing student loan system remained – students would be hit by average debts of £26,412 by 2016. If fees increased to £7,000 the average debt would hit £32,462.

Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group, which represents 20 leading universities, said: “There is a growing consensus that without increased investment, there is a real danger that the success of our world-leading universities will not be sustained. In a difficult economic climate there is even greater urgency to find additional funding.”

But Stephen Williams, the Lib Dem skills spokesman, said: “Young people will be shocked that many of the vice-chancellors involved with this research would like to see tuition fees more than doubled. The conclusions would be very different if students’ views were considered instead of just those of university chiefs.”

[Source: Telegraph.co.uk]