University offers £1,000 bursary

More than 60% of the university's students also get grants

An English university which opposed variable tuition fees is to charge the full amount - but offer big bursaries.

The University of Central Lancashire said it would seek the maximum £3,000 annual fee from students from 2006.

But it is offering £1,000-a-year to all UK, full-time undergraduates from homes where the principal earner's gross salary is less than £60,000.

The university said this would consume 55% of its extra fee revenue, compared with the 10% to 30% typical elsewhere.

'Best possible support'

There will also be "excellence scholarships" focusing on national skill shortage areas such as in engineering and science and an extension of the university's scheme to support local students from working-class backgrounds.

These scholarships will offer real support to all students and focused support to those students who need it most Malcolm McVicar vice-chancellor

The scheme goes beyond the requirement on universities seeking to charge £3,000 a year, to offer bursaries of £300 for the poorest students.

Central Lancashire's vice-chancellor, Malcolm McVicar, was vocal in the campaign against "top-up" fees.

He now says that once the government had forced through its fee policy, his university's focus was to provide the best possible support package for students.

"Far from creating the free market intended by the government, virtually all universities are planning to charge the full £3,000 fee," he said.

So far only one - Leeds Metropolitan - has said publicly it will charge less: "in the region of £2,000".

Investment

"These scholarships will offer real support to all students and focused support to those students who need it most," Dr McVicar said.

"Because we have been prudent in the past this new revenue will also enable us to accelerate our investment plans in teaching, research and continued campus development."

The president of the students' union at Central Lancashire, Bryn Davies, said it had always believed education was a universal right and should not be based on the ability to pay.

But the university was correct to provide students with money when they needed it most - while studying.