Outcome of Vote on University Fees

The votes have been counted and, as expected, University academics have taken the pragmatic approach of someone with a gun to their heads and voted in favour of allowing fees up to £9000 per year. A condition of being allowed to do this is that the University has to submit a proposal to the Office for Fair Access (OFFA) outlining plans for bursaries and financial help particularly for under-represented groups. The access agreement has not yet been finalised but has to be submitted to OFFA by 19^th April. The previous access agreement with OFFA had an aim of increasing the number of state school students admitted to the University to between 60-63% for 2011. Cambridge's state intake was 59.3% of full-time undergraduates in 2009-10. The real challenge will be to increase this proportion in the future, particularly as the number of state school applicants to Cambridge is likely to fall because of the fee increase.