University declares £9,000 fee ‘unfair to students’

Liverpool Hope has become the first university to announce it will not charge students maximum £9,000 tuition fees from next year.

The institution’s vice chancellor, Prof Gerald Pillay, has told staff it is not fair to pass on Government debt to graduates.

A final decision on fee levels has not been made, the university said, but it is going through processes to ensure that any new fee does not include unnecessary costs.

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A spokesman for the university said details of fees for next year will be finalised after the university’s council gave its approval and the institution has received details of its added responsibilities to ensure poorer students are accepted onto courses.

The announcement comes days after Universities Minister David Willetts warned that institutions which opt to charge the maximum £9,000 from next year may end up looking “rather silly” when students opt for cheaper alternatives.

MPs voted to raise tuition fees to £6,000 from 2012 at the end of last year, with institutions allowed to charge £9,000 in “exceptional circumstances”.

But elite institutions like Cambridge and London’s Imperial College have already announced plans to charge £9,000 for all courses, while Oxford has suggested it will need to charge at least £8,000 in order to maintain current funding.

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These top universities are expected to be joined by less prestigious institutions in imposing the maximum charge, amid fears that setting lower fees may saddle them with a reputation for offering “cut-price” education.

But Mr Willetts said that for many courses there was no reason for charges above £6,000-£7,000.

He said: “I certainly hope to see a range of fees being set by universities. To replace the teaching grant they are losing with the extra money coming through the student, universities don’t need to go anywhere up near £9,000. For many courses it is closer to £6,000 or £7,000. It would be a great pity if we had this idea that you have to charge a very high price in order to establish prestige.”

Mr Willetts said students should be looking for a high-quality teaching experience.

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No universities in Yorkshire have announced how much they plan to charge from next year. Leeds University’s vice chancellor, Prof Michael Arthur, said last year that it would need to charge £7,000 a year just in order to recoup the income it is losing through cuts to its teaching grant.

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