Plugging the gap

Vice-chancellors' group worries about the financial consequences of any tuition fee cut.

Universities must receive more public funding if tuition fees are reduced under any future Labour government, according to Sir Christopher Snowden, vice-chancellor of the University of Surrey and president of Universities UK.

Snowden was reacting to a Labour party pledge to cut annual tuition fees in England by a third. In a statement, he said: “Cutting the fees cap from £9,000 to £6,000 could create a £10 billion funding gap over the next Parliament. Such a shortfall, if not met in full from other sources of public finance, could cause significant damage to the economy, to social mobility, to student choice and to our universities. For universities, it is a funding question, not a fee question.