§ Mr. PawseyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Science what has been the outcome of his consultations on the introduction of differential fees in higher education; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MacGregorThe Department's consultation paper, "Shifting the Balance of Public Funding of Higher Education to Fees", issued on 25 April last year, proposed a two-stage plan for increasing the responsiveness of higher education institutions to student demand.
In the light of responses, we confirmed last July the first stage increase in the maximum fee for full-time undergraduate students met through the award arrangements from £607 to £1,675 for the academic year 1990–91.
The consultation paper set a later deadline for responses to the second stage proposal for differential fees. Such fees would apply the market force of student demand more evenly across courses of different costs. Again, the overwhelming majority of the responses supported this proposal. A significant number of those consulted stressed the advantages of setting three fee levels, broadly on the same basis as those set for fees for overseas students, rather than the four proposed.
The Government have accordingly decided to introduce differential full-time undergraduate maximum 599W tuition fees to be met through mandatory student awards for most first degree and designated comparable courses in publicly funded institutions from the academic year 1991–92 onwards. At 1990–91 prices, these fees will be set for three band levels as follows:
Band £ 1 Classroom-based courses 1,675 2 Laboratory/Workshiop-based courses 2,500 3 Clinical courses 4,500 We shall now consult the funding bodies and representatives of universities, polytechnics and colleges about the detailed arrangements for allocating courses to bands and the consequent adjustment between institutional grant and fees provision within the agreed expenditure plans in respect of the student numbers to which they relate.