University chiefs are to demand that higher education funding should not be cut.

At a conference in London, the chief executive of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals (CVCP) will call on the government to protect university budgets in the forthcoming review of public spending.

The university heads are concerned that Chancellor Gordon Brown's comprehensive spending review will leave universities with a reduced budget for teaching.

The spending review will address public spending for the next three years - and there have been reports that the higher education teaching budget could fall by 3%.

Speakers at the conference will remind the chancellor of the long-term economic damage that could follow an erosion of the higher education sector.

'Alarming signals'

And there are likely to be warnings that reducing spending on higher education will hamper the government's efforts to increase the number of students entering higher education.

"The single most important link between universities and commerce is through the flow of graduates into the economy," Alasdair Smith, vice-chancellor of the University of Sussex will tell the conference.

"There have been alarming signals in recent weeks about Treasury plans about the funding of teaching.

"No one should be under the illusion that research can deliver on its national objectives, if the research institutions are crippled by unsustainable reductions in the funding of teaching."

The link between economic progress and universities will be highlighted by the CVCP's chief executive, Diana Warwick.

"I trust that the power of the beneficial interaction between universities and the economy will not be lost on the Treasury," she is expected to say.