Calls for student fee changes

Opponents of the government's plans for student funding in England are keeping up the pressure for changes, following its narrow victory in the Commons.

The Higher Education Bill, introducing variable tuition fees, was given a second reading by 316 votes to 311.

The Higher Education Minister, Alan Johnson, said the government was unlikely to agree to further changes.

One university vice-chancellor critical of the Bill has said he wants compensation for its likely effects.

The most controversial part of the Bill would allow universities in England to charge variable fees of up to £3,000 a year.

'Unfair system'

Coventry University's vice-chancellor, Mike Goldstein, has accused ministers of muddling student support and university funding in a "quite appalling" package.

If you like I'm looking for damage limitation, or compensatory action Dr Michael Goldstein

He argues that variable fees will mean an unfair, two-tier system, with well-off students going to well-off universities while those from disadvantaged communities would suffer.

The Bill now goes for detailed consideration - and, potentially, amendment - in its committee stage.

Dr Goldstein told BBC News Online on Wednesday he thought the key issue of variability had been "astonishingly unchallenged" - but it was so fundamental he saw little prospect of its being altered now.

He thought the best way forward lay outside the legislation.

Universities get some three-quarters of their funding from government via the Higher Education Funding Council for England, and part of that is a premium for widening participation - taking more students from poorer postcode areas.

That premium could be increased significantly, he said - as the education select committee had recommended.

"If that were to be done then that would to some extent at least compensate universities that don't feel they can raise large amounts of money through tuition fee increases.

"If you like I'm looking for damage limitation, or compensatory action, by the English funding council."

Impact of higher fees

He said Coventry was undertaking complex modelling and research among potential students and others such as careers guidance officers on the likely impact of higher tuition fees.

One message that was coming through was that if students were going to have to pay more for their courses, they wanted to know what they were going to get in return - such as more tutorial support.

"The key is value for money."

Another calculation universities are having to make is what happens to their income if they charge the highest possible fees, £3,000, but lose, say, 10% of their intake of students as a result.

In offering bursaries for the less well off, the university would aim to complement the other support available from the government.

Dr Goldstein said headline figures - universities offering "up to" £4,000 - were highly misleading.

Threshold

Mr Johnson said he did not think the government would raise the income level at which graduates are to repay tuition fees from £15,000 to, say, £20,000 a year.

He said this would also help a lot of people on £50,000 and £60,000 a year.

"Is that where we want to concentrate our resources?" he said on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

During the Commons debate on Tuesday, the Education Secretary, Charles Clarke, repeatedly had to promise Labour backbenchers that the index-linked £3,000 cap on fees could only be increased by primary legislation - another change in the law.

He has said the cap would stay for two parliaments - in effect, probably until 2010.

Some want that extended. Mr Johnson said that was unlikely, but there was "plenty of time" to look at it.

The University of East London has argued for a national bursary scheme for poorer students instead of the institution-based one the government is introducing.

The university takes a very high proportion of poorer students - more than 40% would qualify for maximum grants and bursaries.

Its finance director, Richard Allanach, told BBC News Online >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>