VC's Voice

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Once again, the subject of 'top-up' fees is on the political agenda. David Blunkett has made it clear that he is strongly opposed to allowing universities to set their own fees for UK and EU students. In his major speech in Greenwich last month, he re-affirmed his own position and said there would be no change in policy before the next General Election. But he also pointed out that he will not be Secretary of State for ever, and suggested that the issue might be re-opened after the General Election, as part of a wider review of the funding of higher education.

Those who oppose tuition fees in principle will see this as the natural development of an offensive policy. But the principle that university education should be free to all is very hard to defend. First of all, higher education was never was free to 'all'; it used to be free to full-time undergraduates, but not to part-time or postgraduate students.

Furthermore, since the taxpayer-voter is clearly unwilling to pay the full costs of higher education for 40% of the population, we have to face the hard question of what is the best use for scarce public expenditure. I have no doubt that any extra public funds available for student support would be better spent on paying the maintenance costs of students from poorer backgrounds than on paying the fees of students from comfortable backgrounds. The withdrawal of the means-tested maintenance grant was a much more damaging step than the introduction of means-tested tuition fees. It is the loss of the maintenance grant, not the introduction of tuition fees, that has caused the decline in the number of mature students coming into full-time higher education.

There will be strong pressure to allow universities to set their own fee levels, as a way of bringing more resources into the higher education system. More resources would, of course, be a good thing, but there could be a heavy price to pay. More fee income might allow governments to reduce public funding of higher education. High-fee universities might become middle-class preserves, while students from less well-off backgrounds could afford to attend only what would be seen as second-rate institutions. If a future government does decide to go down the route of liberalising fees, the higher education system will have to find ways of ensuring that students from less well-off backgrounds have access to all universities.

The liberalisation of fees may happen whether we want it or not. If it does happen, the change will pose large challenges for the University. We will have to work hard to ensure our success in what will be a very competitive market. That will mean having attractive academic programmes, a high research reputation, and good student facilities. We will also have to work hard to sustain the diversity which is one of the most attractive features of the University.