Labour’s tuition fee proposals would reverse social mobility, says Sussex VC
Labour’s plans to cut university tuition fees would reverse social mobility and cut the numbers of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, according to Professor Michael Farthing, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Sussex.
Speaking ahead of Labour’s policy announcement on university tuition fees today (Friday), Professor Farthing said the proposal, to cut the maximum tuition fees by one-third per student to £6,000 per year, overlooks the fact that only those universities that can demonstrate they are investing large sums of cash into attracting and supporting students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds are entitled to charge the higher fees.
“The maximum tuition fee that we can charge is already £6,000, unless we come up with a fully costed access agreement about how we will invest and work to attract students from under-represented groups,” explained Professor Farthing.
“About half of our new undergraduates here at Sussex are now First-Generation Scholars – with no family background of university education or from lower income backgrounds,” he said.
A total of 162 universities and colleges have registered detailed ‘Access Agreements’ with the Office of Fair Access since the arrangement with the government was struck that allowed universities to start charging £9,000 per annum from 2012.
By 2017-18 universities plan to spend about £719 million a year attracting and supporting students from disadvantaged backgrounds in exchange for permission to charge the higher tuition fees.
“These extra fees are all about social mobility,” said Professor Farthing. “The stated government policy aim is that eventually all students who are bright enough and who wish to attend will have an equal opportunity to come to university.
“It would be reckless for any head of a higher education institution to do anything but challenge a proposal which would appear to have such lasting damage on widening participation and social mobility.’’
The University of Sussex spends a higher percentage than many other universities to attract and retain students who are considered part of the government’s ‘widening participation’ agenda.
For 2015-16, Sussex will spend over 34 per cent of its additional fee income, against a sector average of 25 per cent. The cash goes on non-repayable bursaries for First-Generation Scholars and on a wide range of outreach programmes to local schools in Sussex and in deprived areas of London.
The Sussex Access Agreement shows the University will spend a total of £8.2million in 2015-16 on widening participation initiatives.
The gap between application numbers from students from poor backgrounds and their richer peers is at a record low this year – continuing a steady shrinking of the gap since the higher fees were introduced. Young people from the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods in England are now 72 per cent more likely to apply to higher education in 2015 than they were nine years ago, according to the latest figures from UCAS (the University and College Admissions Service).