Vocational foundation degrees to help people re-skill will be protected

They say cuts of �100m a year for second degrees and lower level, shorter courses mean institutions have no option but to charge students more.

Ministers ordered the funding to be redirected to provide an additional 20,000 places for undergraduates.

They say funding first degrees is "a higher priority" than second degrees.

Financial burden

The cuts, which will come into force next September, will affect about 170,000 part-time students, as well as those studying shorter full-time courses.

Oxford University will lose an estimated �4m, while the Open University faces cuts of �30m.

These cuts completely undermine the government's desire to provide the workforce with accessible part-time provision Sally Hunt University and College Union

The University and College Union (UCU) said UK students will face the same financial burden as overseas students who pay full fees, starting at �7,000.

Sally Hunt, UCU general secretary, said that although universities supported measures to encourage new learners into higher education, they could not "support doors being slammed in the faces of others who wish to develop their skills".

"These cuts completely undermine the government's desire to provide the workforce with accessible part-time provision," she added.

'Driving away students'

Dr Geoffrey Thomas, director of Oxford University's department for continuing education, said it would have to increase fees where it could, but that risked "driving away students who can't afford them".

"We are not going to put fees up as steeply as we might," he added.

For the taxpayer, funding people for a first degree has to be a higher priority than supporting those studying for a second degree Bill Rammell Higher Education Minister

The University of East London, which serves an area around the 2012 Olympic zone, could lose an estimated �3.7m.

Vice-chancellor Martin Everett said the university would have to charge fees of up to �10,000, but warned that among those worst affected would be mothers returning to work after having children.

"It is clear this change will discriminate against the very people we are supposed to be attracting through the government's life-long learning agenda - including many women returners to the employment market, whose first qualifications may no longer be relevant."

Tax payers

The government has argued it is right to limit funding for students who already have degrees.

Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell said universities were able to charge higher fees for second degrees because they were "unregulated", but that they would "think long and hard" before doing so because a market existed and it could put potential students off signing up.

He added: "For the tax payer, funding people for a first degree has to be a higher priority than supporting those studying for a second degree.

"We have however been consulting on the detail of implementation and a whole range of second degrees such as vocational foundation degrees to help people re-skill will be protected. No university will lose in cash terms."