UCU responds to higher tuition fees report

Speaking of the report, 'Funding higher fees: some implications of a rise in the fee cap', UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'This report is a thoughtful contribution to the coming debate around funding higher education. However, it is hardly surprising that it concludes that students - particularly those from poorer backgrounds - will find themselves hit the hardest, if loans to cover higher fees are only partially subsidised.

'Nor should it be a shock that if universities are to subsidise the cost of study for students that their income will be significantly eaten into. We must guard against the possibility raised in the report of recurrent government funding for tuition being reduced to offset higher fees subsidy.

'We trust that the government will be exploring all options and hearing from all sides as part of its university funding review next year. This report, intentionally or otherwise, gives credence to the view that if we want a world class higher education where students are not forced into more debt, and universities not forced into cuts, then greater government investment is an absolute necessity.'