University tuition fees in England to rise from next year, Education Secretary says
Fees could rise to around £10,000-a-year under the new measure
Undergraduate tuition fees are set to rise in line with forecast inflation as early as next year, the Education Secretary has announced.
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In a statement to the Commons, Bridget Phillipson said the rise will remain in place for the next two academic years from 2026.
Currently, unversities can charge a maximum yearly tuition fee of £9,535 for standard full-time courses, but the rise will see students fork out closer to £10,000-a-year.
Meanwhile, under-performing universities won't be able to charge maximum fees as "charging full fees will be conditional on high quality teaching", she said.
She told MPs: “Today I can confirm we will increase undergraduate tuition fee caps for all higher education providers, in line with forecast inflation for the next two academic years.
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"And we will future proof our maintenance loan offer by increasing maintenance loans in line with forecast inflation every academic year."
She added that down the line the government will legislate to increase tuition fee caps "automatically in the future linked to quality", adding that charging full fees will be "conditional on high quality teaching".
“We will not allow institutions who don’t take quality seriously to make their students pay more," she said.
She said the move will drive out low quality provision, improve collaboration and "push forward innovation, to deliver the research break breakthroughs that will revitalise our economy, and to feed that energy back into our local communities".
The announcement comes ahead of the release of the Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper, which also includes the announcement that new vocational qualifications called V levels will be introduced to sit alongside A and T Levels, replacing other qualifications.
The new vocational qualifications have been welcomed by several school and college leaders, but the Sixth Form Colleges Association said they will not feel the gap left by the range of applied general qualifications, which include BTECs.
The Government has also announced a new English and maths qualification targeted at students with lower attainment that will act as a stepping stone to better prepare them to resit their GCSEs in these subjects.
The current resit rule, which requires students who do not achieve a grade 4 in GCSE English and maths to resit post-16, is regularly criticised by sector leaders.
Ms Phillipson announced at Labour conference in September that maintenance grants would be reintroduced for students on courses deemed to support the industrial strategy, funded by a new levy on international students.
Initial reports when a levy was first proposed in the immigration white paper suggested it would be 6%.
Analysis by policy consultancy Public First suggested a 6% levy could lead to a loss of 77,000 international students in the first five years and a £2.2 billion loss over that time in international fee income.
Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer announced in his conference speech the Government would replace the target for 50% to go to university with a target for two-thirds to be in higher education, further education or a gold standard apprenticeship by age 25.
In her statement on Monday, Ms Phillipson said: “To compete in this changing world, we need to nurture a much broader range of talent. So as the Prime Minister has announced, we have a new ambition, no longer just half.”
The Government has also said it will invest nearly £800 million from its spending review settlement into supporting 16 to 19-year-olds next year, and will open 14 new Technical Excellence Colleges.
She added she wants to see universities working with colleges to deliver more level four and five qualifications.
Ms Phillipson added that the Government will introduce a new guarantee for any 16 or 17-year-old not in education or training to automatically get a place at a local provider.
Universities across the UK are facing financial challenges, with many having announced redundancies or cost-cutting measures.
More than two in five forecast a deficit for 2024/25 in data released in May.
Science and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle told the PA news agency last month the universities sector “cannot recover to become what it looked like in the 2010s.
“It has to recover in a way that is fit for the 2030s".