Nigel Carrington, vice-chancellor, University of the Arts London

I don't see expansion as a marker of success and progress
Nigel Carrington

The problem with the current fees regime is that it assumes all subjects cost roughly the same amount to deliver – and that is not true. The current model is very rough and ready. It costs us over £10,000 on average to teach each of our students, so the cost of teaching our subjects is higher than the £9,000 which students currently pay us. The reality of expansion in the specialists institutions is that their cost of provision is too high unless they are able to cross subsidise some other subjects. I would be surprised if expansion was going to happen in London because the cost of provision problem – we are not planning to expand because we haven't got the space, and space in London is very expensive. Universities in areas where space is cheaper obviously will find it much easier. I personally don't see expansion as a marker of success and progress.

Jules Pretty, deputy vice-chancellor, University of Essex

I don't believe institutions when they say they want to remain small
Jules Pretty

I don’t believe institutions when they say they want to remain small. Our expansion has required significant investment. We’re spending millions on buildings for our students and staff – some of that will be tens of millions. It’s the most important thing that’s happened in the history of Essex University – apart from its establishment 50 years ago. When the university was set up and Albert Sloman was the first vice-chancellor, he gave one of the Reith lectures in the 1960s about what the university should be like. He imagined the university would have 20,000 students. For a variety of reasons – government cuts and other difficulties – it never got there. We only reached 10,000 students in recent years. Our aim is to get to 15,000 and if we’re really successful, get to the kind of figure we were talking about 50 years ago.