A Strong Comment from University College London. (January 19, 2011)

The Australian's Julie Hare travelled to Britain as a guest of the British Council.

Here is a segment of what she reported in today's HES.

UCL provost and president Malcolm Grant describes the situation [English universities find themselves in] is one of chronic political mismanagement, with mixed messages, uncertainty and confusion adding to anxiety over budget cuts and tuition fee rises.

"The first big political decision was about funding cuts. Before the election, all the political parties were clear they were going to have to do this. We knew from an early stage that it was going to be serious and it would compound cuts already in place from the previous government," Grant says. "It was just a matter of how deep the cuts would be."
The political mismanagement has been around tuition fees. Not only did the Liberal Democrats reverse their opposition to fee increases, the rapidity and severity of the change is profound.

"We are going from a regime where tuition fees were capped at pound stg. 3200 ($5120), which will continue to apply to all students who enrol before September 2012. We will then see a doubling, or in some instances trebling, to pound stg. 6000 or pound stg. 9000.
"It is too dramatic, and the increases could have been introduced with greater political sensitivity, with progressive increases," Grant says.