Further tuition fee rise politically unviable

The University’s Vice-chancellor, Nigel Thrift, has told that Boar a rise in the cap on tuition fees was “politically unviable” amid a sharp debate over whether British universities should be allowed the measure to maintain standards of teaching and research.

The University’s comments come a week after Chris Patten, Chancellor of Oxford University, called for the limit to be “relaxed”, with the government to review top-up fees next year.

The Vice-Chancellor was clear that he while the University was taking a “wait and see” stance on the matter of fees, he believed that any change before the next General Election was extremely unlikely.

The Warwick Students’ Union has opposed a possible rise in top-up fees paid by EU nationals in a campaign against lifting the cap, which it says could lead students to debts of £37,000 when they graduate.

Last week, Lord Patten recommended an increase in the cap to keep universities adequately funded and make admissions “genuinely needs-blind”.

He told the Headmasters’ and Headmistress’ Conference that the place of British universities among the world’s best was threatened by “lower salaries for university teachers, degraded facilities, and a squeeze on the resources available for libraries and research”.

In light of improving higher education in China and India, these developments were “surely bound to have serious consequences for our competitiveness,” he said.

Critics of the cap say that it benefits middle-class applicants disproportionately. However, Lord Patten, also chancellor of Newcastle University, said a higher cap on fees would enable universities to provide bursaries for poorer students.

Lord Patten argues, universities “should not be treated… like local social security offices,” and unless students from state secondary schools achieve more A-grades in traditional subjects, there was “no chance whatsoever” that Oxford would meet the government’s “socio-economic targets”.

Oxford has agreed with the Office for Fair Access, the regulator of British universities, that 62 percent of the students it admits in 2010 should come from state secondary schools, up from 58 percent in 2007.

A day later, John Denham, the universities secretary, said Lord Patten held “an outmoded view” on widening student participation.

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