British vice-chancellors have been accused of complacency and arrogance after “fantasising” about more than doubling tuition fees, even as the recession worsens.

The charge was levelled by the National Union of Students (NUS) in response to a study published this week on the future of tertiary-education fees. The report, produced for Universities UK, sets out eight possible scenarios, all based on the assumption that the fees cap will increase to either £5,000 or £7,000 a year.

The study concludes that increasing the fee to £5,000 a year will have no impact on student numbers, regardless of when students are made to pay and what support is in place.

Rick Trainor, president of UUK, said, “I’d like to make it very clear that this report is not a first salvo by UUK in lobbying for higher variable fees. There is no preferred scenario.” He added, however: “By some means or other, more money needs to be put into teaching and learning if we are to meet rising expectations of students.”

Meanwhile, Wes Streeting, president of NUS, said that the report appears to “assume that higher fees are inevitable”. The NUS has broken with years of opposition to any form of tuition payment in attempt to resolve the current fees debate. It is now proposing a graduate tax to replace the current system of tuition fees and student loans as a way out of the government’s dilemma over the rising costs of higher education.
To cover their living costs, students would get a mixture of loans and grants, depending on their parents’ income, and would pay loans back in the same way as they do at the moment, through the tax system.
“We are putting forward a radical proposal for an alternative system that is fairer for students, but still generates the kind of income the sector so badly needs,” said Mr Streeting.

From Donald MacLeod at the Guardian and John Gill at Times Higher Education