Lord Browne has published his review of higher education funding and recommends removing the cap on tuition fees. If agreed by Government, universities will have been given the green light to send students fees through the roof.
By proposing that universities could charge as much as they like to teach students, former BP boss Lord Browne has heralded the commercialisation of the English university system. In practice this means that the most sought after universities, like Oxford and Cambridge, will be able to charge inflated tuition fees. Lord Browne’s model is factoring in teaching costs of up to £12,000 a year, but also allows top institutions to charge unlimited tuition fees.
Left to rapacious market forces the price of a university place to study popular subjects such as medicine and law could go sky high. Mike Kenny from the influential Institute for Public Policy Research said, “You may have students who think that the cost that some universities charge is prohibitive, so that they are not able to pursue their dream of becoming involved in that kind of profession.” The Tory faction within the Coalition Government applaud the Browne proposals as a “sustainable and permanent solution” believing that the recommendations have “ensured that low earners won’t be unduly hit” - but they will be hit. Put simply, the way the new regime works is that institutions rated highest in the university league tables will, by ratcheting up course fees, force many poorer students to study elsewhere, or worse, not at all.
The Liberal Democrats opposed tuition fees before the May’s general election preferring a graduation tax to fund higher education, with high earning graduates repaying more. This week the Lib-Dem leader Nick Clegg, as Deputy Prime Minister in the Tory dominated Coalition Government, told the BBC that he would be looking for Lord Browne’s review to “encourage more students from poor backgrounds, and that when people pay back for their university tuition, they only do it when they can afford to do it.” The review falls woefully short of the Liberal leader’s election pledge to get rid of tuition fees. Despite pressure from Clegg’s back-benchers, like Greg Mulholland who promises to vote against the introduction of Lord Browne’s recommendations, it remains to be seen whether the Lib-Dem leader is able to set himself full-square against his Tory Coalition colleagues. Nick Clegg told the BBC, this week, "I'm going to stick to what I said before the election. I'm going to resist any attempt to increase fees and I believe there are other colleagues who will do the same ... I'm giving a very strong message, as are other colleagues, that there are certain things that we will not accept as part of the much-needed reform of higher education. Increasing fees is, for me, a red line." Hold on a minute Nick, before the election you said you would get rid of tuition fees altogether. “We will scrap unfair university tuition fees so everyone has the chance to get a degree, regardless of their parents’ income,” Liberal Democrat Manifesto, 2010 page 33. This weekend Westminster and Cambridge educated Nick Clegg says he’s changed his mind and will now only resist a rise in tuition fees.
If Lord Browne gets his way, the marketisation of higher education will discourage students from poorer families applying to top universities and price some out of the university education altogether. The Liberal Democrats have an enormous task on their hands to prevent Browne’s recommendations becoming law, but all but the richest students across England will be hoping they succeed. 
Watch Clegg & Cameron on University Tuition Fees
Listen to Lord Browne's opinion
Read the Review "Securing A Sustainable Future For Higher Education"
Read Liberal Demcrats election pledge [page 33] to scrap university tuition fees
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