Sponsored by
Leeds Uni boss says tuition fees must hit £5,000
STUDENT tuition fees should soar to at least £5,000 a year, according to the head of Leeds University.
Professor Michael Arthur, the university's Vice Chancellor, has argued for a jump from the current 3,225 annual fees in a bid to make it worthwhile for universities to take on British undergraduates.
His comments are likely to alarm parents who are struggling to pay for their children's higher education.
Prof Arthur, the new chairman of the Russell Group of elite universities, fears cuts of between 20 and 25 per cent in Government spending on higher education after the next General Election.
Urging ministers to allow universities to hike up fees, he said: "Five thousands pounds would close the gap between what a British student costs to teach and what we receive to teach them.
"But we'd have to look to see if that was enough."
This summer's scramble for places at Leeds University proved that the limit to how much the public purse can afford to send people to university has been reached.
He said: "At Leeds we were asked to take 248 on to science courses. I thought it was the wrong thing to do, with no extra money to pay for them.
"I didn't think it was fair on staff, or on the students we already had. So I said no. Almost all the top universities did the same."
He also said that the "general view" among the country's top universities is that it is better to slash the number of student places than to teach each student for less money.
Prof Arthur's controversial comments came as business leaders argued university students in the UK should pay more for their loans and accept higher tuition fees as 'inevitable'.
At the weekend Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg came under fire from party activists for watering down the party's commitment to scrapping tuition fees to only an 'aspiration'. During a question and answer session at the party's Bournemouth conference, Mr Clegg was warned that abandoning the policy could damage the party's support in university seats.
To applause from delegates, activist Maelor Williams, told Mr Clegg he had to "appreciate that the abolition of tuition fees is a lot more than just money."
Mr Clegg said: "There is no question mark about my personal commitment to that policy. The only question mark is about when we can afford to scrap tuition fees."
The policy would cost 12.5bn over the course of a parliament, he said.
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Leeds
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 23 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: East
