A government cutting tuition fees in response to England¡¯s Augar panel report must ¡°absolutely¡± replace the lost university income, while seeing off threatened restrictions on university access was ¡°a hill I was willing to die on¡±, universities minister Chris Skidmore has said.

Mr Skidmore made the comments at the Higher Education Policy Institute¡¯s annual conference, where he also criticised the use of the phrase ¡°bums on seats¡± in relation to university recruitment ¨C a phrase used by his superior, education secretary Damian Hinds, as well as by his predecessor as universities minister, Sam Gyimah.

The Augar panel report called for a lower fee cap of ?7,500 and full replacement funding so the average unit of resource remains unchanged. Many fear that the Treasury would be unwilling to finance this top-up funding ¨C but that a future Conservative government could go ahead with the fee cut anyway.

During a question and answer session at the event on 13 June, Mr Skidmore said that in the current ¡°extraordinary¡± political climate ¨C with a new Conservative leader and prime minister shortly to be chosen ¨C he was ¡°not sure whether I¡¯ll still be the universities minister in eight weeks¡¯ time¡±.

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He added: ¡°What I¡¯m going to do is give my personal view ¨C rather than the government¡¯s view ¨C which is absolutely that we would need to see a top-up. I¡¯ve always felt that privately.¡±

He called for a ¡°whole system approach¡± joining up further and higher education, with the latter continuing to be involved in the provision of sub-degree, vocational Level 4 and 5 qualifications.

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¡°I don¡¯t think the FE sector is strong enough, it certainly hasn¡¯t got the capital, to be able to deliver the explosion in Level 4/5 qualifications alone,¡± Mr Skidmore said.

He continued: ¡°Ultimately, I think we should be rightly proud of our higher education system and continue to invest in it, and we can¡¯t rob Peter to pay Paul.¡±

Mr Skidmore also repeated his call for the government to fully consult with the sector on the panel report, rather than rushing its response. ¡°If you¡¯re going to produce a report of this magnitude¡­then the sector does need to have that consultative opportunity,¡± he said.

He added that he was ¡°keen to progress that¡± and joked he was in a ¡°one-man race at the moment to continue in my job¡±.

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Mr Skidmore also stressed how determined he had been in successfully opposing plans to restrict entry to universities via a tariff threshold for loan access ¨C at one stage seen as likely to be recommended by the panel and set at three D grades at A level or equivalent ¨C because of the threat it posed to access for disadvantaged students.

¡°I¡¯ve seen so many examples of students¡­who have flourished late in life,¡± he said. ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to be the universities minister who was going to be able to defend putting a ¡®three D¡¯ cap in place.¡±

The minister also addressed some of the terminology used in criticism of universities. Mr Hinds, the education secretary, issued a press release ahead of the publication of the panel report in which he said it was ¡°right that we challenge those institutions which could appear to be more focused on ¡®getting bums on seats¡¯ than getting students into high quality courses worth paying for¡±.

Mr Skidmore did not refer to any Conservative colleagues by name. But he said: ¡°I¡¯ve heard some people talk about universities putting ¡®bums on seats¡¯. I hate that phrase¡­I want to revoke that language from any politician using that phrase. I¡¯ve never met any university professional who simply wants to drag students in without giving them the best possible experience and the best possible qualification.¡±

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john.morgan@timeshighereducation.com