Raising English tuition fees ‘less popular than national service’

Raising tuition fees in England is a less popular policy idea than the Conservatives’ much-derided plans to bring back national service, with voters of all parties objecting to even a small increase, according to new polling.

Given a list of education policy priorities for the incoming UK government, voters ranked increasing fees to £9,750 a year second last with a net rating of minus 34 per cent. Plans to require every young person to volunteer at least once a month or join the military scored minus 32 per cent.

The poll, conducted by consultancy firm Public First found that only two of the top 10 most popular policy commitments were directly related to higher education: making Britain a “science superpower” by investing more in research and removing state funding from “low-quality degrees”, which each achieved a net positive score of 5 per cent.

There was also little enthusiasm for restricting the number of international students coming to UK universities and lowering monthly student loan repayments for graduates, which both had net negative ratings. 

None of the major parties have committed to a tuition fee increase in the election and the report says that any government considering doing this will have to accept that it “won’t be popular”.

The policy polled poorly across all voter intentions, scoring minus 29 per cent among Conservatives, minus 33 per cent among Labour voters and minus 34 per cent among those intending to vote Liberal Democrat.

“To the relief of vice-chancellors, Labour has in recent weeks left the door open to future fee increases,” said Jess Lister, an associate director of Public First.

“But as our polling today shows, this will be a phenomenally unpopular decision with voters. Labour will be right to expect a lot back from the sector in return, while also not really prioritising higher education as the most important policy area, particularly compared with schools and early years. Navigating these tensions will be the big challenge facing the sector in the weeks ahead.”

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The poll found that education lags behind other spending priorities such as the NHS in the minds of voters, with higher education seen as less of a priority than schools, apprenticeships and free childcare.

Asked if they felt universities had improved in the last 10 years, 31 per cent said they had become “much better” or “somewhat better”, with 30 per cent neutral and 20 per cent saying “somewhat worse” or “much worse”.

If the government did have money to spend on education, voters again prioritised schools, although 20 per cent said they would like to see tuition fees lowered, double the 10 per cent who said more funding should be given to universities, which came bottom of the list.

Asked specifically about post-18 education, voters prioritised commitments such as creating more apprenticeships and courses for working-age adults over higher pay for university lecturers and establishing new universities in economically poorer areas.

tom.williams@timeshighereducation.com