Regional university holds back from maximum tuition fees

Huddersfield University has announced plans to charge £7,950 a year from 2012 when the national cap on fees is almost trebled and state funding for degree teaching is hit by massive cuts.

Bosses at Huddersfield – who rejected charging £9,000 last month – say their figure reflects the actual cost of running their courses.

It was one of four universities from the region to declare what it planned to charge next year, yesterday. Bradford and Hull both announced fees of £9,000 while York St John said it aimed to charge £8,500.

Leeds and Sheffield have already announced fees of £9,000 while Leeds Met plans to charge £8,500.

Huddersfield University’s deputy vice chancellor Prof Peter Slee said: “We have set the fee at £7,950 and that reflects the average cost to us of running our degrees and no more than that.

“Our costs are not lower than others, 80 per cent of the courses we run are accredited by professional bodies and you need to have the standard of kit and buildings that this requires but we are in a strong position financially and are debt free. I think students should ask institutions who are planning to charge £9,000 why that is?”

Sir Patrick Stewart added : “I am honoured to be chancellor of Huddersfield University because of what it stands for. It is an institution that has strong values and a sense of fair play and, rather than rushing to charge the highest possible fee, it has carefully considered what would be fair to students and set a fee accordingly.”

Four universities in Yorkshire are among more than 35 across the country to announce that they plan to charge the maximum allowed when the cap on fees is raised to between £6,000 and £9,000 a year and universities are hit by an 80 per cent cut to their teaching budgets.

Hull University’s vice chancellor Prof Calie Pistorius said: “We believe that the headline fee of £9,000 is necessary to ensure our commitment to quality of teaching and student experience, given the nature of the new policy landscape, and that the figure reflects the value of a degree from Hull University.”

All universities which plan to charge more than £6,000 have to submit plans to the Office for Fair Access, by today, showing what support they plan to give students from the poorest backgrounds.

Prof Pistorius said Hull would not only be looking at fee waivers but also increased support to help students meet their living costs.

The chairman of Bradford University’s council, Paul Jagger, said: “The decision to charge a fee of £9,000 is one that has been made with great reluctance but is set against the context of the devastating cuts to the sector and was reached after considerable discussion and consultation within the university. We are committed to attracting a diverse range of students to the university and believe the financial support packages we are developing, coupled with the Government scheme, will help ensure this.”

The Government has created the National Scholarship programme to reduce tuition fees for students from the poorest households.

York St John’s plan to charge £8,500 includes a series of fee waivers of up to £2,000 a year for students from households earning less than £10,000.