Fees may be cut to £7,500 at ‘low value’ universities

UNIVERSITIES offering ‘low value, low quality’ courses could have their fees slashed to around £7,500.

A government review of post18 education, headed by financial services expert Philip Augar, is to be published shortly.

It is expected to recommend stopping universities charging the full £9,250 a year they are currently able to demand if their degrees show poor economic returns for students, according to the i newspaper.

Instead, a lower fee of around £7,500 would be introduced.

Education Secretary Damian Hinds told the newspaper that under the current fee system, there is ‘no distinction’ between courses that offer a high return for graduates and the economy and those that do not.

But too many institutions are ‘ incentivised’ to expand courses that offer poor prospects to graduates in a bid to boost income, he said. Mr Hinds insisted action is necessary ‘in the interests of the taxpayer’.

The move is set to crack down on media studies and creative arts courses in a shake-up that university leaders say would result in a £1.8billion reduction in funding for institutions.