Two-thirds of universities will charge £9,000 fee maximum

The union said assurances from ministers during the fees debate that £9,000 fees would be the exception looked as empty as UCU warned they would at the time. The average tuition fee in 2012-13 will be £8,393, according to analysis released by the university access regulator, OFFA.
 
123 higher education institutions and 16 further education colleges have had access agreements agreed by OFFA. Of the 123 higher education institutions, over a third (45, or 37%) will charge a minimum fee of £9,000 and two-thirds (80, or 65%) will charge £9,000 for at least one course.
 
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'The rubber-stamping of higher fees will entrench our position as the most expensive place to study a public degree in the world. The new system is flawed both economically and morally and it is not right to ask the brightest brains in this country to be guinea pigs for an unfair system that has not been properly thought though.
 
'When pushing hard to persuade Liberal Democrat MPs to break their pre-election pledge to vote against any rise in fees, ministers made much of the fact that fees of over £6,000 would be the exception. Quite clearly that is not the case.'
 
OFFA has not refused a university's fee level since its inception in 2002 and 13 Russell Group universities don't meet current benchmarks - Channel 4 Factcheck
 
London Studio Centre and Warwickshire College are still in discussion with OFFA about their fee levels. All approved access agreements and the targets institutions have set themselves will be published on the OFFA website