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Pro-Vice Chancellor joins fee debate

Oxford University’s Pro-Vice Chancellor for Education echoed earlier calls by Vice Chancellor Andrew Hamilton, who suggested earlier this term that fee rises could be used to plug the gap in university funding.

Pro-VC Dr Sally Mapstone told the Sutton Trust Advancing Access and Admissions Summit in London earlier this month, “We would be very interested in seeing the potential for a move to variable fees.”

The comments were made after she was asked if she supported a move towards a system of truly variable fees, the Times Higher Education has reported.

But Mapstone continued, “I think there are a couple of things that go with that. One is that price should never be an impediment to talent. The other is that when you look at the repayment mechanism, you’re looking very hard at income-contingent measures.”

Speaking on behalf of Dr Mapstone, a spokesperson for the university told Cherwell, “Dr Mapstone’s comments speak for themselves and are consistent with what we have said in the past. They do not and are not intended to change the university’s position in any way”.

He added, “The collegiate University has no set view on future fee levels.”

Dr Sally Mapstone is Reader in Older Scots Literature, and Lecturer in English at St Hilda’s College. As the university’s Pro-Vice Chancellor for education, her responsibilities include admissions strategy and student support.

Mapstone’s comments were made at the Sutton Trust admissions summit on Wednesday 13 November. The event, for the discussion of ways to improve access to elite universities for low and middle income students, was attended by around eighty academics from the US, UK and Europe, including heads of admissions at Oxford, Cambridge Harvard, Yale and MIT.

Speaking with regards to Hamilton’s comments on the funding gap, the spokesperson continued, “There is no suggestion that the entire shortfall Oxford faces should be made up through fee increases, or that graduates will end up paying the whole cost of their education.

They added, “Oxford University has always been clear that this significant funding gap needs to be addressed in a range of ways – including philanthropy. It is right that the University contributes towards the cost of teaching. Access must be regardless of finances.”

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