UK university student funding plan set to test coalition unity
Source: Agencies |
October 13, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
UNIVERSITIES in England should be freed from restrictions on the amount they charge students for their education, according to a government-ordered review that will fuel tensions within the two-party ruling coalition.
The move would allow a significant transfer of costs from the state, which is struggling to reduce a peacetime record budget deficit, to individuals attending courses.
The recommendation could see tuition fees double on average from the present cap of 3,290 pounds (US$5,250) a year and further anger middle-income groups unhappy about plans to scrap child benefit payments for higher earners.
Adopting the proposals will be politically difficult for the Conservative-Liberal government, which is preparing cuts of 25 percent in public spending over the next four years - with university funding already in the firing line.
The Liberal Democrats, junior partners in the coalition, pledged in a May general election to abolish university tuition fees and some of its lawmakers are set to fight the plan.
"I'm going to resist any attempt to increase fees and I believe there are other colleagues who will do the same," said LibDem parliamentarian Greg Mulholland.
"There are certain things we will not accept as part of the much-needed reform of higher education, and increasing fees is for me a red line."
Allowing unlimited tuition fees would bring higher education in Britain closer to the US system, where most students have to take out large loans to fund their studies, rather than the continental European norm of low fees for public universities.
The government will now decide how much of the report to use as the basis for legislation reforming university funding.
With the Labour opposition also attacking the proposals, the government faces the possibility of a defeat in parliament if sufficient LibDems rebel. That might not prove fatal for an alliance that has pledged to rule for five years, but could weaken Britain's first coalition since World War II.
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said that the issue of funding was "complex and very important."
Leading universities, facing cuts in state support in the government's spending review, say they need the freedom to charge higher fees to retain the best academics and keep pace with top US institutions.
The review, led by former BP chief executive John Browne, called for a transformation of the financing of higher education in England to create a free market in university provision.
"Under these plans universities can start to vary what they charge but it will be up to students whether they choose the university. The money will follow the student who will follow the quality," said Browne.
The parents of the current generation of students enjoyed free tuition and many got additional state support to help get them through college.
The move would allow a significant transfer of costs from the state, which is struggling to reduce a peacetime record budget deficit, to individuals attending courses.
The recommendation could see tuition fees double on average from the present cap of 3,290 pounds (US$5,250) a year and further anger middle-income groups unhappy about plans to scrap child benefit payments for higher earners.
Adopting the proposals will be politically difficult for the Conservative-Liberal government, which is preparing cuts of 25 percent in public spending over the next four years - with university funding already in the firing line.
The Liberal Democrats, junior partners in the coalition, pledged in a May general election to abolish university tuition fees and some of its lawmakers are set to fight the plan.
"I'm going to resist any attempt to increase fees and I believe there are other colleagues who will do the same," said LibDem parliamentarian Greg Mulholland.
"There are certain things we will not accept as part of the much-needed reform of higher education, and increasing fees is for me a red line."
Allowing unlimited tuition fees would bring higher education in Britain closer to the US system, where most students have to take out large loans to fund their studies, rather than the continental European norm of low fees for public universities.
The government will now decide how much of the report to use as the basis for legislation reforming university funding.
With the Labour opposition also attacking the proposals, the government faces the possibility of a defeat in parliament if sufficient LibDems rebel. That might not prove fatal for an alliance that has pledged to rule for five years, but could weaken Britain's first coalition since World War II.
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said that the issue of funding was "complex and very important."
Leading universities, facing cuts in state support in the government's spending review, say they need the freedom to charge higher fees to retain the best academics and keep pace with top US institutions.
The review, led by former BP chief executive John Browne, called for a transformation of the financing of higher education in England to create a free market in university provision.
"Under these plans universities can start to vary what they charge but it will be up to students whether they choose the university. The money will follow the student who will follow the quality," said Browne.
The parents of the current generation of students enjoyed free tuition and many got additional state support to help get them through college.
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