Kim Howells

As new data points to a looming cash crisis in higher education, the minister responsible said he would regret any reduction of university places for British students.

Kim Howells' comments come amid fears that institutions like Oxford University will cut domestic places to take on additional foreign undergraduates in a bid to earn more money.

They also coincide with new figures revealing that the number of applications received from overseas students has slumped by 5.3 per cent.

UniversitiesUK, the vice-chancellors' umbrella group, said universities have been experiencing "difficulties" recruiting overseas students during the past year.

But some colleges are still preparing to target foreign students in a move which could reduce the number of places available to UK students.

Asked about Oxford's proposals, Howells said: "I think they have pulled back a bit from the initial announcement - they are saying it was misinterpreted.

"I am a firm believer in universities retaining their independence. They have to decide who they are going to teach and what they are going to teach.

"But I would regret any diminution of the opportunities being offered to UK students to receive the best that our higher education establishments can offer."

The National Union of Students said the reduction in overseas applications could be the result of an increase in tuition fees from £1,150 this year to £3,000 per student from 2006.

Tertiary move

Howells also used his interview with ePolitix.com to call for greater public debate on the costs of higher education.

The higher education minister suggested there was still a debate to be had about the rate of tuition fees universities could charge.

"I don't think it is a bad thing for our universities to discuss the whole funding question with government and their own prospective students and the parents of students," he said.

"There ought to be a debate about what higher education costs. It can't be a good thing to have a debate that's cold and uninformed.

"It has to be one that is properly informed. It does cost a lot to deliver world class higher education, no question about it."

Howells said there had been "a lot" of lobbying from universities over the need to raise the ceiling on tuition fees or take in additional, fee paying, foreign students.

"Most academics and politicians understand that it is one thing to aspire to a tuition fee level that pays for all the needs at university and it is another to get it through the House of Commons or convince the people that this is the best way for higher education to proceed," he added.

Skills shortage

Howells also said universities must do more to attract students into key subjects.

He told ePolitix.com that he was "very worried" about a worsening skills shortage caused by fewer people wanting to study maths and science subjects.

The minister said universities should "do more to help themselves" by working more closely with industry in order to make sure they had the best facilities.

"I am very worried about the decline in the number of young people who want to study science, engineering, technology, maths and some IT subjects. It is very worrying and a big concern," he said.

"I know that those kinds of subjects cost more to teach. You need proper laboratories and proper equipment. You can't do it with clapped out equipment. All that costs universities a great deal of money and we have to discuss with them the proper ways of making that money available.

"Universities can do much more to help themselves. We've done a lot of work in the past few years on trying to strengthen the links with industry and industry benefits enormously from what higher education does - turn out graduates. We've got to be a lot more imaginative about how we fund them."