Ministers will permanently link tuition fee rises to inflation in England but restrict increases to universities that meet higher quality standards, the Department for Education said on Monday.
The long-awaited government white paper on skills and post-16 education also set out plans to address the funding shortfall in research, noting that the proposed changes “may result in funding a lower volume of research”.
The proposed reforms come amid widespread cost-cutting in the higher education sector as providers are under mounting financial pressure from a long-term funding squeeze and a clampdown on immigration that has dampened international demand.