Roderick Floud, president of Universities UK, has challenged suggestions that a supply and demand approach could improve the provision of courses and funding.
And he has questioned whether a system so dependent on government money and policy could be usefully described in terms of market economics.
Professor Floud, addressing a fringe meeting at the Labour party conference, was responding to calls for reforms from the higher education minister Margaret Hodge.
She had suggested that the funding of places should reflect the demand from students - implying that unsuccessful courses could close.
"The government talks about a 'free market driven by student demand'. Are, then, subjects such as engineering to be placed at the mercy of short-term fluctuations in student demand?" Prof Floud said.
Under-funding
"When government talks of a free market, it is an odd free market in which one purchaser - the funding council - controls the price we can charge, the numbers we can take and the quality of what we deliver.
"If the government is thinking of, for instance, removing the cap on student numbers, or introducing 'top-up' fees, we must have the opportunity to debate the matter."
Prof Floud says that any reforms or review of higher education had to address the central problem of under-funding.
"Put simply, the university sector still needs money to rebuild, modernise and maintain its buildings, to improve pay and conditions for staff, to continue building links with industry, and to maintain its international research reputation."
Universities UK says that the higher education system needs an extra £9.94bn.
~RS~a~RS~International~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~25~RS~)