Nepal UK
Getty Images
London – The British officials have confirmed that university tuition fees in England will increase every year in line with inflation from 2026 onwards.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson confirmed the increase for the next two years, and promised legislation which would make it happen automatically every year after that.
Maintenance loans will also increase yearly in line with inflation.
Speaking in the Parliament, Phillipson said that charging full fees will be conditional on high quality teaching and that only those universities providing strong outcomes for students would be able to charge the maximum fees.
Universities which fall below the quality threshold set by the regulator in England, the Office for Students, will not be able to charge the new maximum and risk having a cap imposed on the number of students they can recruit.
Tuition fees in England this academic year stand at £9,535, BBC news reported.
Universities UK, which represents 141 universities, said the plans offer "a much-needed reset for our university system".
"It makes clear that universities are a huge national asset, rightly admired around the world. We need them to be in great shape if we want national renewal," chief executive Vivienne Stern said.
Raising fees in line with inflation will "help to halt the long-term erosion of universities' financial sustainability, following a decade of fee freezes", she added.
But University and College Union general secretary Jo Grady said the government had "doubled down on the disastrous tuition-fees funding model, which created the crisis the sector is currently facing".
Prof Ian Dunn, provost at Coventry University, said the proposed increases were a "good thing" for universities, but added that "under no circumstances will this solve the problem".
"From a university perspective, it adds a little income and will alleviate a little of the pressure," he said.
"But it will not in itself solve the financial situation universities are in right now,” he told the BBC.
