Donations will be key in university funding, says UK Tory spokesman

Donations will play a big role in funding universities, the Conservatives' higher education spokesman, Boris Johnson, has predicted.

Mr Johnson has argued that UK universities needed greater autonomy and less state control. They should be 'set free' to run their own affairs, including admitting students and teaching courses.

In a paper on the future of universities, he argues that more thought needed to be given to tax breaks and how to build up alumni donations and endowments, and the government should "acknowledge that 'hierarchies of excellence' must be allowed to flourish".

He said the role of government was "to get the funding right and then stand back and let students and institutions do the rest. It should make sure students have the most up to date information about courses and the benefits they bring."

Fee cap likely to rise in the UK

Meanwhile, the UK's Labour government Chancellor, Gordon Brown, indicated last month that university tuition fees were likely to rise after the next election.

The £3,000-a-year tuition fee is capped until 2009 but Mr Brown suggested that the country would have to increase the proportion of national income spent on higher education from the current 1.1 percent to nearer the European Union average of 2.2 percent, according to reports in the Daily Telegraph.

He said he was ready to "enter into the debate" on how funding could be increased from private and public sources and indicated that he would not rule out an eventual reassessment of the £3,000 cap, which some universities regard as too low.

Boris Johnson's comments in the Guardian are at this web page.

The Daily Telegraph article on Gordon Brown is at this web page.