University head backs fees decision

While Professor Simon Gaskell warned he could not comment on the methodology used by institutions to determine fee levels, he said: “I think we could say, based on the brief press releases, the possible implication or inference could be that £9,000 fees have not been based on any calculation of cost but on perception of status.”

Almost 50 universities have now announced their fee levels for next year.

Queen Mary has held off announcing their fees in order to look in detail at what they will submit to the Office For Fair Access (OFFA), he said.

Any institution planning to charge more than £6,000 must set out to OFFA how they intend to ensure poorer students are not priced out.

Prof Gaskell said Queen Mary, part of the University of London, had not started with a “preconceived notion” of what fees should be.

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

But so far, most universities are clustering around the £9,000 mark. Those who plan to charge the maximum include the universities of Leeds and Sheffield.