Fees policy in 'disarray' says UCU as deadline looms

UCU said that government claims that only in 'exceptional circumstances' would universities charge more than £6,000 a year were incredibly naive. Today, the universities of Hull and Lincoln are the latest to announce they will charge £9,000, while York St John University has announced its intention to charge £8,500.

To date, a survey of 71 institutions found that at least two-thirds of institutions want to charge the full fee for all or some of their courses, as they look to plug the funding gap created by huge cuts to teaching budgets.

UCU has highlighted how a market system would only encourage universities to opt for higher fee levels, for fear that students, as consumers, would link price to quality.

UCU said the government's policy was in disarray and that government needed to listen to growing number of voices urging it to look again at the whole policy, or at least consider giving OFFA legal powers to regulate fees. UCU added that rushing the original vote through for £9,000 fees and then looking at the details later down the line had always been a recipe for disaster.
 
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'The government's fee regime is in complete disarray and its sums clearly do not add up. It quickly became clear that all English universities would have to charge more than £6,000 a year just to break even, following devastating funding cuts.

'Rushing through a vote on higher fees and then going into detail at a later stage was always a recipe for disaster. This policy has become a runaway horse and without strong intervention soon, could have disastrous effects for our future higher education system.'