Augar leaks have substance, says Sussex vice-chancellor

A university leader has claimed that leaked details of the Augar review, including the proposal to reduce tuition fees to around £6,500 for some subjects, make points that are “very well founded”.

University of Sussex vice-chancellor Adam Tickell said various leaks from the government’s review into funding post-18 education, led by Phillip Augar, were not “kite-flying leaks”. Tickell was speaking at a London seminar on 31 January, organised by the Higher Education Policy Institute think tank and AdvanceHE.

“I’m told the leaks in The Times…are very well founded. These aren’t kite-flying leaks. So the suggestion that we move to three Ds, the suggestion that fees get reduced to just over £6,000 for most subjects, these aren’t made up and ‘see how it falls, and get the response back’ [style-leaks],” said Tickell. “This is an implicit return of the student number control, but to my mind it’s a socially regressive return to student number control.”