Students and lecturers say fees have not solved chronic problems, writes TIM ROSS

Universities are still facing many of the chronic problems which led to the introduction of tuition fees ten years ago, according to students and lecturers.

A decade has passed since Lord Dearing's groundbreaking report into higher education, which paved the way for Tony Blair's first administration to introduce tuition fees.

But the National Union of Students said that while undergraduates now paid thousands of pounds for their courses, they had gained precious little in return.

Speaking ahead of a conference on the tenth anniversary of the Dearing Report, NUS vice-president Wes Streeting said: "For students and their families, the most significant impact of the Dearing Report is that it paved the way for the £3,000 variable yearly fees that they now pay.

"As a group, students now stump up more than the 25 per cent contribution to the costs of higher education that Lord Dearing envisaged.

"But where are the corresponding improvements in the education they receive?

"And where is the industry money that Dearing also recommended should be pumped in to the sector?

"Students are being turned into consumers of their education, but they have precious few consumer rights."

Many are now forced to sign "one-sided student contracts" promising to work hard but have in return "little recourse" for poor quality teaching, he said.

Ministers are due to review the fees system in two years and many predict that the £3,000 cap on what universities can charge will be raised or possibly lifted completely.

Mr Streeting said: "More cash from students must mean better rights for students."

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the lecturers' union, the University and College Union, said that the low levels of staff pay that the Dearing Report identified in 1997 had still not been settled.

She said: "The Dearing Report in 1997 dramatically changed higher education forever.

"Dearing correctly identified the future health of higher education as being entirely dependent on its staff.

"Ten years on and the incredible work being done by staff in our universities is still not being properly rewarded.

"The worries highlighted about recruiting and retaining the very best staff are an even greater concern now than they were a decade ago.

"If we are to maintain our proud international reputation as a global leader in higher education we must urgently invest in our staff."