Money’s too tight (to mention) – universities and students are on a knife edge as the party conference season and the new academic year kick off in earnest

When the Coalition Government for which I worked tripled tuition fees for undergraduate study to £9,000 back in 2012, it was a big and unpopular change. But it represented a real increase in support for higher education that led to real increases in the quality of the student experience, with improvements to staffing, facilities and student support services.