Education review

Tuition fees must offer value

BACK IN September when Theresa May announced a “freeze” on tuition fees in England it was a U-turn in everything but name. It was also an attempt by the Prime Minister, still rattled by a calamitous general election campaign, to show that she had listened to the electorate, and younger voters in particular.

Today, Mrs May will set out the details of her government’s longpromised review of higher education funding in England – with the existing system of fees, which cost up to £9,250 a year - up for scrutiny.

There is a great deal resting on the outcome of the “radical review”, announced at last year’s Conservative Party conference, which will look at all aspects of student funding, including the maintenance support available to help with the cost of living.

This has been a vexed issue ever since tuition fees were first introduced by Tony Blair’s government, and instead of creating a “competitive” market Mrs May recognises that we now have “one of the most expensive systems in the world.”

Justine Greening, the Rotherham-born former education secretary, has urged the Government to reintroduce maintenance grants for poorer students something that ought to be seriously considered. For at the heart of this debate is the role of higher education itself and whether, given the eye-watering amount of graduate debt, students are getting value for money.

Universities should be a byword for excellence and as such any changes to funding ought to be fair and affordable to all students, whatever their background and irrespective of what they are studying.