The controversial rise in tuition fees was suggested to prevent institutions like Oxford University from going private, the Business Secretary has claimed.
Speaking at the Girls School Association annual conference in Manchester, Vince Cable defended government plans to charge students as much as £9,000 per year in tuition fees from 2012.
He said: “One of the reasons we’re doing this is precisely to head off Oxford, Cambridge, London Schools of Economics, University College London and a few others from going private, because if we hadn’t opened up the system in the way we have, they would have had a very strong incentive to do so."
Dr Cable, who studied at Cambridge, said he would regret it if the institution opted out of the public funding system, but added he does not think they will as the new proposals have "enough in it for them".
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