Keep Them Kettled! Student Protests, Policing and Anti-social Behaviour

Abstract

The Labour government led by Tony Blair introduced annual university tuition fees of £1,000 in 1998, following recommendations made in the Dearing Report — Higher Education in the Learning Society (Dearing, 1997). According to the Prime Minister, the revenue obtained through the new ‘up front’ payment would be used to finance the planned expansion of higher education. The Teaching and Higher Education Act 1998 withdrew maintenance grants in favour of income-contingent student loans. During Labour’s next term of office, the Higher Education Act 2004 brought back grants and introduced variable tuition fees, or top-up fees as they became known. Under the terms of this act, from 2006–7 universities could charge students annual tuition fees up to the government imposed cap of £3,000. Students no longer pay tuition fees at the start of each academic year, but instead take out a student loan to be repaid following graduation, if their income reaches a certain threshold. These significant changes to the financing of higher education made by Labour met with relatively limited opposition among students and university staff.