Initial evidence suggests that despite a Government-imposed cap on student numbers universities have accepted 35,000 more students this year than last September, defying an order that only 13,000 more be allowed.
The extra places were offered after a 10 per cent surge in applications from hopefuls led to fears that thousands of students would be unable to start a degree course this year because ministers had imposed the cap after discovering a £200m black hole in their university financing.
Now vice-chancellors face being fined for every student admitted over the official limit, according to the Guardian, but the Government has not said how much the "fines" will be as it does not know the full extent of the over-recruiting.
Les Ebdon, the vice-chancellor of the University of Bedfordshire, said all his courses were full and he believed he had kept within the limit. "It's still early days to say what it will be like on 1 December when the official count is taken," he added. "It will be nail-biting time because of the fines they are threatening. It's not fair to fine universities for educating students – particularly in a recession."
The Higher Education Funding Council for England said it was too early to say whether the cap had been broken.
(www.eduwo.com, Jainlyn&Charlotte)
