Here is an article from BBC Online today.

this is pretty annoying actually!

The vice Chancellor of Oxford keeps
speaking out in favour of fees (admittedly because of the impact on
funding for university if they were abolished).
I don't know what people think or feel about this but I feeling a sudden desire for a big cream cake or pie.

Also read the last bit. I quite like Dobsons idea to target public schools
(in my view: the source of much of the inequality in university and society.)

for more info of why student fees are bad have a look at OUSU's website.

ALSO there will be a protest on Wednesday at 1pm at the Clarendon
Building (Broad Street) and it would be great if you came along.
The protest is set to coincide with the Queen's Speech where the bill on top up fees
will be announced.

Ps. I think some more active engagement with these people is needed...
remember that guy from UNIV last week calling for the complete
privatisation of Universities.


> Top universities' warning on fees
>
> Tuition fees are currently up to £1,125 a year in advance
> The heads of England's elite universities have urged the government not to
> back down on tuition fees.
>
> In a letter to The Times, the vice-chancellors of Oxford, Cambridge and
> three top London colleges say more cash is needed to avoid a financial
> crisis.
>
> Without it, they say their global reputations may slip and support to
> poorer students may also suffer.
>
> Details of the plan to allow universities to charge students up to £3,000
> a year from 2006 will be outlined in Wednesday's Queen's Speech.
>
> Some Labour backbenchers are expected to vote against the government when
> the draft bill enters the Commons, because they fear increased fees will
> deter poorer students
>
>
> This will start to restore financial health to our universities
> Letter to Times
> But the heads of Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College London, University
> College London and the London School of Economics have said without higher
> fees, they will fall behind their US rivals.
>
> The letter said: "The government's proposals for a new approach to student
> fees, which will be repayable only after graduation, are right in
> principle.
>
> "This will start to restore financial health to our universities."
>
> Bursary idea
>
> To counter the concern over the deterrent effect on poorer students,
> ministers had wanted to introduce a bursary scheme funded by the fees.
>
> That would require universities giving up some of their income to offer
> financial aid to poorer students elsewhere.
>
> The Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, Sir Colin Lucas, was one of the
> signatories to the letter.
>
> Speaking on BBC Radio 4 on Monday, he warned that undergraduates would
> suffer unless more cash was made available to higher education
> institutions.
>
> "If we don't get some kind of increased income, we would have to deal with
> a loss-making activity in such a way as to reduce the strain on university
> finance," he said.
>
> "It's obvious that what would happen is we would seek to bring in students
> who are paying a higher fee. That would be overseas students and
> post-graduate students."
>
> Looking abroad
>
> The letter from university heads warns that any bursary scheme must be
> left up to the institutions to manage, not the government.
>
> And it says any help currently offered to poorer students would be under
> threat if the extra cash generated by tuition fees was jeopardised.
>
>
> Analysis: Student fee plan
> The universities fear the bill may be diluted by backbench opposition and
> reduced in its effectiveness.
>
> Sir Richard Sykes, rector at Imperial College, told The Times the
> university might have to consider increasing its intake of postgraduate
> and foreign students, who paid full fees of up to £20,000 a year.
>
> Third way?
>
> Labour's former health secretary Frank Dobson joined the debate to suggest
> a scheme to link the cost of university education to the amounts parents
> spent on school fees.
>
> Also speaking on BBC Radio 4, Mr Dobson - a staunch opponent of top-up
> fees - suggested undergraduates should be charged the same amount each
> year of their degree course as their parents had paid for their secondary
> education.
>
> "This would mean old Etonians would have to pay £26,000 a year," he said.
>
> "That would be something that would appeal to the Labour Party and appeal
> to a lot of other people and it would be perfectly fair."
>
> Critics of tuition fees claimed their case was strengthened last week by
> government research which suggested poor students had been hit hardest by
> the abolition of grants.
>
> At present, the £1,125 tuition fees are means-tested and students whose
> parents earn less than £20,000 a year pay nothing.