Do take seriously the suggestion that tuition fees could fall

The Institute for Public-Policy Research, a think-tank, has today published a report that details how a future government could cut annual tuition fees to £6,000. Do not dismiss it.

Think-tanks are generally staffed by fresh-faced youngsters who know alarmingly little of the history and context of their subject*. Nevertheless they are used by political parties to identify possible future scenarios. Such is the case with today’s publication by the Institute for Public-Policy Research of a study that details a possible future in which the maximum annual tuition fee for home and European Union undergraduates is capped at £6,000. If vice-chancellors and directors of finance are in any doubt about the heft of this report, note its timing: ahead of the political party conferences in the autumn and a good 18 months before the next general election, scheduled for May 2015. The contents of the manifestos on which the results of the next election will be determined are being assembled right now. Note also that the report is due to be launched at 09:30 this morning by Chuka Umunna, the shadow business secretary.

For those of you who attended our launch party at the British Academy and wondered what universities and science minister David Willetts meant when he referred to our "earthquake coverage", it is in play today. We have published a Policy Watch that fillets the recommendations made in the 130-page report and offers a short explanation of what they mean for universities. We have also published a briefing on how these measures, if implemented, would affect different parts of the sector. And Rodney Eastwood, former secretary and an ex-director of planning and strategy at Imperial College London, who is also a member of our editorial advisory board, has written a deep analysis.