Cable warns that Tories could raise tuition fees ‘significantly’

Vince Cable has predicted that the Conservatives could raise fees “significantly” and abolish student grants if they win power at the election

The business secretary also said that calls from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge to raise fees to around £15,000 are something the next government “will have to face”.

Ranging widely across higher education topics during his appearance at a fringe meeting at the Liberal Democrat conference in Glasgow today, Mr Cable said that there were three universities “on the brink of bankruptcy” when the coalition came to power in 2010 and that some UK higher education institutions are “pretty poor”.

Asked about concerns over the rising estimates of the amount of money the government must write off on the new student loans system, he replied: “I don’t worry about it, because in a sense these losses crystallise in 30 to 40 years’ time when I’ll be well over 100.”

Mr Cable started his appearance at the fringe meeting, co-hosted by the Social Market Foundation thinktank and Sutton Trust, by looking back to 2010 and the budget situation in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

Read the full article here.  See further coverage from the Times Higher here.