University chiefs appeal to rebel MPs

Universities today issued a dramatic appeal to rebel Labour MPs, begging them not to wreck the introduction of top-up tuition fees.

In an unprecedented advertisement in a national newspaper, 74 vice chancellors warned that the future of higher education was at stake.

It was signed by vice chancellors representing every sector of higher education - from Oxbridge to the University of Luton and other former polytechnics.

Professor Ivor Crewe of Essex University, who is also president of Universities UK representing all institutions in higher education, warned: "The funding crisis is here now; the quality crisis is just around the corner. Doing nothing is not an option."

He told the Evening Standard that if the Bill failed to win parliamentary approval his university would cut places for UK students, and recruit those from overseas who paid more. Funding per student has fallen by 40 per cent since 1989.

Today's appeal reflects remarkable unity between vice chancellors who have privately taken radically different views on the Government's proposed legislation.

They united to declare that despite its flaws, the proposed Bill is a vital first step towards restoring the financial health of higher education.

Universities are already preparing crisis talks if the Government is defeated. The Russell Group, which brings together 19 elite researchbased institutions including Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College, LSE and University College, London, will meet on Thursday.

Chairman Professor Mike Sterling, vice chancellor of Birmingham University, said universities would quickly look to alternative funding. The recruitment of more overseas and postgraduate students would be a "straightforward business decision", he said.