Universities risk fines for taking in too many students
Saturday, 24 February 2007
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Many of England's most popular universities may risk incurring government "fines" this autumn by recruiting more students than they are allowed.
Surrey University, which has seen a 40 per cent increase in applications, is considering ignoring a government cap on the number of students it takes in.
Other leading universities are expected to follow suit - a move which some academics fear could lead to lesser known universities losing out on student numbers.
Chris Snowden, the vice-chancellor of Surrey University, is urging ministers to abandon the "cap" on student numbers.
At present, universities risk the loss of government cash support if they recruit more than five per cent above the official number of students they are allowed.
However, the introduction of top-up fees of up to £3,000 a year per student, along with university efforts to raise more money from the private sector, softens the blow - and ensures they can secure income if they ignore the figure. "There are two options which could be open to us: put up with the fine or persuade Hefce [the Higher Education Funding Council for England] to give us additional student numbers," he said. However, he argued that the second option could take too long to achieve.
Figures published last week showed Surrey had received a 39.2 per cent increase in applications this year - with engineering up 43.1 per cent and maths 43.8.
National figures showed a 7.1 per cent overall increase in applications.
"I would be in favour of lifting the cap," said Mr Snowden, "although I think it should stay if you fail by five per cent to meet your target figure".
He argued the cap was hampering efforts to introduce a market in higher education. It was also impeding government progress towards reaching its declared aim of getting 50 per cent of students into higher education by the end of the decade.
However, some academics fear that such a move could make it difficult for less popular institutions to survive in a year when there was not such a major increase inapplications. The cap was introduced years ago to give the Government control over the financing of universities. One university said to have suffered most in recent years as a result of it is St Andrews, which saw a sudden surge in applications once it became clear that Prince William was to study there.
Under the new regime, universities which recruit way above the target stand to gain more income to offset fines than those that only marginally increase their allocated numbers.
In addition, they are being encouraged to seek more funding from private contributions. Earlier this month Tony Blair announced plans to give universities £1 for every £2 raised from private endowments - subject to a maximum £2m per university. At present, Surrey gets 51 per cent of its finances from the state and 49 per cent from elsewhere.
A spokesman for Hefce said there was flexibility in the system. But he added: "If a university does go beyond its contract range it would not get any additional funding from us. It would be likely to be lowering its unit funding per student."
