Minister backs moves for universities to raise tuition fees

Jo Johnson, the universities minister, said the move, formalised in the Higher Education and Research Bill, is necessary to properly incentivise high quality teaching.

But Labour MP and former university lecturer Rupa Huq raised concerns as she suggested the changes were being "rushed through".

Mr Johnson said during the Bill's report stage in the Commons: "This Bill will also give the Office for Students the power to operate the Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF).

"Thirty years of the REF (Research Excellence Framework) and its predecessors have made the UK's research the envy of the world.

"But without an equivalent focus on excellence in teaching the incentives upon universities have become distorted."

Intervening, Ms Huq said: "You mentioned the TEF and the REF before it. Would you not agree with me that the REF took several years to bed down and become a sort of measure of research and the TEF there are lots of institutions who do feel that this has been rushed through, in particular the link between teaching excellence and fees.

"I have been emailed by University of West London who have asked me to strongly oppose that because also it's done on an institution by institution basis not like REF which was by departments and even courses can vary widely in quality.

"Would you not think again in relation to those points?"

Mr Johnson insisted the TEF had "not been rushed" and that the changes would be given a "significant period of time" to bed in.

He said: "The university sector has welcomed the link to fees.

"The UK has recognised there is a need for such a link, recognising that we need to fund on the basis of quality as well as quantity and there is no attempt by the sector to separate the link as you suggested."

The Government has previously said the ability to increase fees is necessary to ensure universities do not suffer a drop in funding.

The Higher Education and Research Bill aims to boost competition within the higher education sector and also proposes the creation of a new Office for Students (OFS) which will be in charge of regulation.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd announced earlier this year that she plans to introduce major new restrictions on foreign students as part of a crackdown on immigration.

She suggested a two-tier visa scheme will be introduced through which the rights of foreign students to study and work in the UK are tied to the quality of the course and university or college they are studying at.

But a number of MPs hit out at this policy and said international students are a boon for the economy and should be encouraged to study in the UK.

Shadow Brexit minister Paul Blomfield said: "International students are an extremely good thing for our economy, and therefore it is deeply worrying that the Home Secretary put it at the centrepiece for her plans to cut migration, international students."

He said that in post-Brexit Britain foreign students and the economic benefits they bring will be more important than ever, and warned that "we need to win friends, not alienate them".

He said: "For us to be unilaterally declaring to the world that we are differentiating our institutions and saying that a good two thirds of them perhaps, are less good than others, I don't see how that can do anything other than damage our ability to recruit international students, to earn the money that we do from them, and the support and jobs that means for our local economy."

Labour MP Roberta Blackman-Woods said: "It's really, really important the Government does not put international recruitment of students at risk, because once they are here these students also enrich our society, they contribute to its diversity.

Ms Blackman-Woods, whose Durham constituency includes one of Britain's top universities by the same name, said she was "bewildered at the mixed messages the Government is giving to international students", with different lines coming out of different ministries.

Lib Dem education spokesman John Pugh, echoed these concerns, describing the Home Secretary's comments as "worrying".

He said: "Welding together Home Office policy and education policy seldom works."

The Bill proposes opening the higher education sector up to greater competition by allowing new institutions to award degrees - as long as they meet certain standards.

Shadow education minister Gordon Marsden outlined Labour's desire to amend the Bill with a new requirement for the OFS to be assured of the maintenance of standards before issuing authorisation to grant degrees.

He said: "I want to give notice that we will be pressing a vote on amendment 40 and whatever the outcome of that vote I can assure the minister that this particular issue is unlikely to go away and he will no doubt face further question on it and his team when the matter goes to the other place."

Mr Marsden also set out a Labour amendment which would see final sign off on what is in the TEF given to MPs.

He said: "The reason that we do not trust the Government with the TEF as it is is because they have demonstrated ever since they introduced this Bill that whenever they had an opportunity to do something to keep control of the process and to try and actually get things through that would not require legislation in detail they have turned to the TEF."

Mr Johnson replied: "I don't believe that the content of these amendments is either necessary or proportionate.

"As I have said, the development of the TEF has been and will continue to be an iterative process as the REF was before it.

"Requiring Parliament to agree each and every change to the framework would stifle its healthy development."

Mr Johnson also urged MPs to "calm down" in relation to the issue of foreign students coming to the UK.

He said: "We want our universities to continue to attract genuine students from around the world. We have no plans to introduce any cap on the number of non-EU students who can come to the UK to study.

"No decisions have been made on tailoring or differentiating non-EU student migration rules on the basis of the quality of the higher education institution or how this might be achieved."

Labour's Wes Streeting (Ilford North), a former president of the National Union of Students, said millions of people across the UK have been "mis-sold loans" and pay thousands of pounds more than expected.

Mr Streeting said: "The perpetrator of this mis-selling scandal isn't an unscrupulous high street bank or a payday lender, it is in fact our own Government.

"And the victims of this mis-selling scandal are current students and graduates who were mis-sold student loans on the basis of false assumptions and broken promises."

He suggested an independent panel should be created to approve changes to the repayment terms of student loans.

For the Government, Mr Johnson said: "The repayment regulations are subject to scrutiny under the negative procedure, which allows Parliament to call a debate on any amendments.

"It's right Parliament rather than an unelected panel should continue to have the final say on the loan terms and conditions."

Mr Marsden said of retrospective hikes in student loan repayments: "This Government, and that minister and the rest of his colleagues have created this Frankenstein monster which is going to cause problems for so many thousands of students."

He added: "It is economically, morally and socially indefensible."

Mr Streeting's proposal was rejected by 278 votes to 181, majority 97.

Mr Marsden called for a return of maintenance grants, which he said are crucial to ensuring social mobility.

He said: "At a time when the Government's own social mobility commission only last week has reported that our nation is facing a crisis in social mobility, it is a travesty that I have to stand here today to talk about the problems caused by the scrapping of maintenance grants and replacing them with a further loan, which we know will disproportionately affect students who have come from a low income background."

He said students in the UK are saddled with on average £44,000 of debt when they leave university - the highest level of any European country.

Bringing back the grant would help more than half a million students in the UK, he added.

Mr Marsden's proposal was rejected by 278 votes to 181, majority 97.