Students to face higher tuition fees after election
Students face paying higher tuition fees after the next election as the Tories hint they are prepared to consider raising the current £3,225 a-year charge.
Shadow Universities Secretary David Willetts told the Standard that university bosses must prove that students will benefit if fees are to rise.
Many vice-chancellors want to charge undergraduates up to £7,000 a-year for a degree course, while some have called for the introduction of American-style unlimited fees.
Mr Willetts is urging ministers to make the Government's university fees review - which is due to begin within weeks - a cross-party inquiry.
The move would draw the political sting out of what could be the most unpopular decision David Cameron takes in his first months in office.
The remarks represent the clearest signal yet that the Conservatives are prepared to consider a possible increase in tuition fees if they win power next spring.
Students and lecturers have warned that Labour and the Tories are adopting a "cosy consensus of silence", refusing to say whether they believe fees should rise in the run-up to the election. Mr Willetts said: "It's absolutely not a simple decision that has already been taken." He said that a year ago vice-chancellors were urging him to raise the current cap on fees, which was set in 2006 at £3,000 adjusted for inflation. "The only question was whether it should be £5,000 or £7,000," he said.
"They now realise that it's not a decision like that. I say to them quite explicitly, If the fee cap were to go up, what would be in it for students? You have to show the better experience for students. You haven't yet done that.' " But he added that reforms will also have to consider student loans, funding for part-time courses, and "the teaching experience for students".
His comments echo recent remarks by Lord Mandelson, who has hinted at allowing universities to charge more, provided they offer better support for working-class undergraduates.
A government review of fees is due to begin in the next few weeks but will not report back until after the election. Speaking ahead of a Conservative-led debate on higher education in the Commons, Mr Willetts said the review should be cross-party to ensure it was "as open a process as possible".
The "precedent" for such a move came in 1996 when John Major's government consulted Labour before setting up Ron Dearing's review of higher education funding, which paved the way for Tony Blair to introduce tuition fees.
