Tuition fees to be capped?

From The Guardian:

David Willetts said he disagreed with one of the main proposals of Lord Browne’s radical blueprint for universities, published last week.

Browne, former chief executive of BP, recommended ministers allow universities to set tuition fees – currently £3,290 a year for students in England – as high as they thought they could command.

Browne said institutions charging more than £6,000 should have to pay a rising percentage of each additional £1,000 as a levy to government. This would mean a university that charges £7,000 would receive 94% of the fee, while one charging £10,000 would receive 81%.

Speaking to vice-chancellors at the annual conference of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, Willetts ruled out such a system as “neither sustainable nor sensible”.

He said the coalition was looking at sticking with a fee cap. Vince Cable, the business secretary, has suggested fees are capped at £7,000 a year. He has said there would be a “psychological impact” on pupils from poor and middle-income homes of taking on debts more than this.

The story illustrates how, although the government is set on introducing the Browne report in some form, much of the detail is still the subject of intense debate within the coalition.

The reason many Liberal Democrat MPs have so far held off stating in public how they will vote is that this maximises their negotiating power in order to win further modifications from the original Browne proposals. An intensive round of meetings and talks is still being held as those who have not yet committed in public press for further changes.

The date for putting the revised Browne proposals to Parliament has not yet been set, reflecting the uncertainties within Whitehall as to quite how long these continuing internal debates will take and how much they may yet further alter the plans.

However successful MPs are in their efforts to secure further changes (and this story shows how even significant parts of the Browne review are still up for alteration), it is hard to see how the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Party will not end up splitting three ways – with Nick Clegg, Vince Cable and possible a small band of others voting for the report, many abstaining and a further large group voting against.