Vice-chancellors hint at hopes of fee increase

The organisation that represents university vice-chancellors in the UK has given the clearest signal yet that it would like the government to raise tuition fees.

Its report Why Invest in Universities, published on 25 June in anticipation of the chancellor George Osborne’s emergency budget on 8 July, says that the increase to £9,000 a year in 2012-13 reversed a decline in the resources available per student. However, “its value is being eroded considerably by inflation”.

A spokesman told Research Fortnight that the value of fees was eroded in the years immediately after the increase. Inflation is now at a historic low (0.1 per cent at the time of writing), but the spokesman said the Office for Budget Responsibility predicts that inflation will rise again in 2015-16.