"As a student member of the Council and as the President of CUSU it will come as no surprise that I have great misgivings about this Report. I chose not to sign it and I chose to publish a Note of Dissent against it.

But before I outline my objections and concerns about this Report, let me make one thing clear: I do not believe that the University has any choice but to charge the full top-up fee from 2006. As someone who has spent the best part of two years campaigning tirelessly against the introduction of top-up fees by the Government, it is a difficult concession to make. But in the face of growing deficits, increasing competition nationally and internationally, and the ever-present need to maintain our status as a great teaching and research institution, the University simply cannot afford to turn down this new stream of funding." -- Mr W. P. W. Streeting (President of the student union, CUSU)

"We should decide these things as a University and not simply take whatever is given to us. While it may be true that we will not be required to repay the fees until after graduation, this makes no difference to the knowledge that a university career will be concluded with a significant burden of debt." -- Ms J. F. AUTON

"Deputy Vice-Chancellor, it is claimed by the Government that students should pay for their time at university because graduates earn more than those without degrees. Since basic literacy and numeracy are far more important to one's employment prospects than a few letters after one's name, should we not instead be proposing to charge vast fees for primary school education, to be repaid as soon as the student is earning above the national average?" -- Mr M. C. VERNON

"Mr deputy Vice-Chancellor, I am Dom Clarke, President of Trinity College Students' Union. A motion was passed at a TCSU open meeting, mandating me to speak at this Discussion on behalf of TCSU against this Report. I agree wholeheartedly with Wes Streeting's note of dissent and am regretful that a member of Trinity's governing body has chosen to be a signatory of this Report." -- Mr D. M. CLARKE

"Mr deputy Vice-Chancellor, when examining Reports in order to prepare remarks for Discussion, it seems appropriate first to establish the points made with which one can express agreement. It is rather unfortunate, therefore, that in the case of this Report, despite repeated examination, I can find only one observation with which I can agree on its own merit. There are some others with which I shall agree, however, inasmuch as they struggle to mitigate the effect of the remainder. Indeed, the only paragraph with which I can agree in toto and wholeheartedly is the note of dissent attached to the end of the Report." -- Mr J. P. SKITTRALL

"The Higher Education Act gives Cambridge the option - and it is no more than an option - to charge fees anywhere between zero and currently £3,000 a year. One can only assume that the Council propose the highest end of this simply 'because they can'. I ask the Council, to what extent has a lower fee (between these extremes) been considered? Can the Council please respond?" -- Mr M. V. LUCAS-SMITH