Today the universities minister, David Willetts, noted in his custom essay that if students do not pay more for their degrees, they may miss out on higher education. He considers that giving students a chance to enter universities is better than cutting the number of students or reducing the level of quality of higher education. He added: “This has to make sense for young people.”
David Willetts: “What would not make sense would be to fail to increase the contribution from graduates with the result that we jeopardised the student experience or ended up having to make big cuts in student numbers. That would be to let our young people down.”
The universities minister demands a “renewed emphasis on teaching” at universities. He says that universities that did not understand the importance of giving students proper education were risking losing their original purpose of existing.
According to the latest figures from Ucas, there is an intense pressure on degree courses these days. Willetts said that 463,000 young people had accepted a place this year, and this number is 11,000 students more than last year. Meanwhile 38,000 pupils found a place through clearing.
He said: “Although going to university is a competitive process, we will have more students at university this year than ever before.”
Universities in the UK are waiting for the results of the government’s spending review and a review by Lord Browne to be published. The latter concerns the future of university finance and is expected to reject a graduate tax giving preference to raising fees to around £7,000.