Introduction of tuition fees

The introduction of tuition fees may result in a more elitist university system with the old universities becoming the preserve of privately educated students, warned Michael Bradford, professor of geography at Manchester University, at a Royal Geographical Society Institute of British Geographers meeting.

He said research by Tony Hoare of Bristol University, in 1994, showed that state school pupils were already less willing than their independent school peers to travel long distances from home to study.