University graduates should pay more for degrees, says minister...

Graduates should pay a higher contribution return for their university education, a government minister said today.
The universities minister, David Willetts, said this would be better than cutting student numbers or reducing the of funding per student.
Willetts told an audience of university vice-chancellors: "I do believe it is better for the younger generation to have the chance of going to university and then pay for that out of the higher earnings achieve later on – rather than experiencing poorer quality HE or being deprived of the opportunity altogether. This has to make sense for young people.
"What would not make sense would be to fail to increase the contribution from graduates with the result that we the student experience or ended up having to make big cuts in student numbers. That would be to let our young people down."
Willetts called for a "renewed emphasis on teaching" at universities. He said institutions that downplayed the importance of teaching students were "in danger of losing sight of their original mission".
"It remains hard to shift the impression that what really counts in higher education is research. This needs to change."
The latest figures from the university admissions service, Ucas, underline the pressure on degree courses. Willetts said they showed 463,000 had accepted a place, 11,000 more than at this time year, and that 38,000 found a place through clearing.
"Although going to university is a competitive process, we will have more students at university this than ever before."
Universities in England awaiting the result of the government's spending review and a review by Lord Browne into the future of university finance.
This week it was reported that Lord Browne would reject a graduate tax and instead raise fees to around £7,000.
In a speech in July, Vince Cable, the skills secretary, compared tuition fees to a "poll tax" that graduates paid regardless of their income. Cable argued it was fairer for people to pay according to earning power. "It surely can't be right that a teacher or care worker or research scientist is expected to pay the same graduate contribution as a top commercial lawyer or surgeon or City analyst whose graduate premium is so much bigger."
Graduates earned average £100,000 more than non-graduates in their lifetime, Cable said, and there were significant premiums for degrees such as medicine.