Review of student fees a political ‘stitch up’

A review of student fees has been launched by ministers amid warnings from student representatives that it could be a political “stitch-up.”

The review will call into question how much students are paying for university fees and where funding should come from. Former BP chief Lord Browne will chair the review alongside six other members including Sir Michael Barber, head of Tony Blair’s Delivery Unit, and David Eastwood, the Vice-Chancellor of University of Birmingham.

Business Secretary Lord Mandelson commented that students would be involved in discussions on funding in a review he hoped would “examine the balance of contributions to universities by taxpayers, students, graduates and employers.”

Accordingly, tuition fees, which are worth £1.3 billion to universities, might be supplemented by other income such as business contributions.

Lord Mandelson said: “I have discussed the review’s membership and terms of conference with David Willetts and we are both committed to ensuring the independent nature of this important piece of work.”

However, the findings will not be published until after the next general election.  This has sparked concern amongst students and the NUS that a political “stitch-up” aimed at increasing university fees is underway.

The launch of the review triggered the NUS to call for emergency action in Parliament last Wednesday.

NUS President Wes Streeting said: “There is a real danger that this review will pave the way for higher fees and a market in prices that would see poorer students priced out of more prestigious universities and other students and universities consigned to the ‘Bargain Basement’.”

This comes after a debate at Manchester Town Hall two weeks ago, when Streeting accused party representatives of not even being able to “toe their own party line”. The main political parties are yet to state how much they want to lift the cap on university fees to. This has prompted the UCU Lecturers’ Union to demand that political parties must declare their position on how much students should pay.

Wendy Platt, head of the Russell Group, argued that “As universities are facing severe economic conditions and ferocious global competition it is clear that the status quo is not viable.”