Scrap fees and fund university through business tax, says new report

A report released today by UCU recommends raising the level of corporation tax in the UK to the G7 countries’ average to raise enough money to abolish all university tuition fees.

The union says the move would still leave the UK’s main corporation tax below that of France, Japan and the United States, and that 96% of companies in the UK would be unaffected by the change.

The union says its plans for a Business Education Tax (BET) are the first coherent attempt at making business pay its way for the numerous benefits it gets from UK higher education. The landmark 1997 Dearing report listed the three beneficiaries of higher education as the individual, the state and the employer and said the key was finding a fair way to get all three to pay their share.

Read more, and access the report, on the UCU website