- guardian.co.uk, Thursday 15 June 2000 16.06 BST
Allowing top universities to privatise and create a two-tier higher education system would undermine every effort to battle elitism.
Talented students from lower income backgrounds are already paying more - student contributions have increased by £1.4bn per year under this government.
Standard rate tuition fees were introduced in 1997, just after the general election, with no manifesto mandate. On the one occasion the electorate has had to vote on the issue - the Scottish Parliament election in 1999 - it voted to reject fees.
If the government really wants to improve access to education then it should listen to the independent Cubie inquiry; rule out top-up fees and introduce targeted maintenance grants.
Undoubtedly, universities remain under-funded. The NUS suggests that the best way to increase the flow of funds into universities is via a regulated business contribution to solve the funding gap. Currently, business is the stakeholder group which contributes the least to higher education but benefits the most.
Students need well-resourced lecturers, just as lecturers need properly funded students. Lecturers who are poorly motivated by discriminatory pay or students who are distracted from their studies by part-time jobs, or forced to drop out through hardship, are of no credit to higher education.
Education in the 21st century must be based on equal access for students and fairness at work for lecturers.
