Keith Burnett, Vice Chancellor
New University documents suggest it could charge up to £9,000 in tuition fees following proposals by the coalition government.
A note in a draft proposition says: “Do we have a strong enough employability proposition and is it backed up by the evidence?
“This is likely to be of increasing interest to students paying up to £9k p.a.”
Universities can charge £6,000 a year following the tuition fee bill on December 9 2010. They can raise fees to the £9,000 cap if they prove they are widening access to poorer students.
The Project 2012 proposition, setting out what the University will offer students and how they can benefit from a Sheffield education, was presented to Union Council last week.
It also considers access for lower income students, building on the “excellent outreach work already in place in Sheffield.”
Nick Clegg told pupils at Tapton School on Friday February 4 that universities would have to: “go through all sorts of hoops” to raise fees to the cap.
Union Education Officer Joe Oliver said: “The University knows fees are going to rise to a minimum of £6,000 a year for UK undergraduates.
“They need a better offer to try to compete in what will effectively be a marketplace.
“Even if there was not this document, I would be surprised if Russell Group universities were not charging £9,000. I do not think that it is inevitable, but that is my strong suspicion.”
Union President Josh Forstenzer said: “At this stage, I just don’t know what the fee level will be at our University and it will very much depend on the implications of the government’s White Paper and its funding requirements in terms of widening access.
“With that said, I suspect that fees will eventually be near and around £9,000 per year.”
A University of Sheffield spokesperson said: “The University of Sheffield is currently in the process of looking at how we should respond to the introduction of the new funding regime for teaching and has not yet set its fee level for 2012 entry.
“We anticipate that a decision will be made later in the Spring. However Project 2012 is not just about what fees we set.
“Increased tuition fees will undoubtedly lead to increased expectations from students and it is therefore important that we look at why students want to come to the University of Sheffield and what they can expect when they are here.”
Forstenzer said: “Sheffield is already one of the two best universities in the Russell Group at widening participation, but more efforts and resources will need to be directed towards bursaries and outreach activities to continue to attract people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
“So far, our University has shown itself to be fully dedicated to this cause. I intend to make sure that this dedication is translated into meaningful action.
“I think this increase in fees will heighten the expectations of students and put our University under even greater pressure to truly deliver on the promise of a brilliant education.
“The University of Cambridge have already released all their deliberations. They say replacing money taken away by the government’s cuts would require fees of approximately £8,500.
“The additional £500 would have to go towards bursaries and outreach activities to help people from lower socio-economic backgrounds come to university in order to satisfy the Office of Fair Funding and Access.”
The University is part of the Russell Group of 20 research-led universities, which pushed for tuition fee increases.
Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge have officially announced they plan to charge £9,000. The University of Oxford is expected to follow suit.
The University said it is committed to an open and inclusive dialogue with its staff and students as well as researching changes in higher education funding.
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