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 Daily Telegraph 29 March 2012
Almost 100 out of 130 universities in England could be forced to take fewer undergraduates this year numbers following the introduction of reforms designed to drive down tuition fees, it emerged.
Many members of the elite Russell Group are among those facing reductions, with Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester, Newcastle and Southampton being particularly hit.
Data from the Government’s Higher Education Funding Council for England suggests some newer universities such as Bedfordshire and East London are expecting to lose around one-in-eight places.
The cuts are being imposed following the introduction of new rules that effectively penalise universities charging more than £7,500 in student fees from this autumn. It means large numbers of places are being shifted towards less expensive further education colleges.
But Prof Michael Farthing, vice-chancellor of Sussex University and chairman of the 1994 Group, which represents many small research institutions, said the figures show that “many excellent students will be denied places at their first choice universities. The number of students that universities are allowed to recruit has been cut across the sector, with 20,000 places auctioned off to institutions with lower than average fees,” he said.
“Far from giving the best universities freedom to take on more students this represents a push to a cut-price education."
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