An "historic" deal on top-up fees in Wales could threaten lecturers' jobs by allowing the Assembly to "fudge" a promise to tackle a £330 million funding gap between higher education in Wales and the rest of the UK, union leaders claimed this week.
There are also fears that the agreement, which would in effect exempt Welsh students from paying top-ups if they study in Wales, could leave the Assembly open to a legal challenge from students elsewhere in the UK and other European Union countries.
The agreement was ratified by the Assembly last week after a deal struck with opposition party leaders based on recommendations from the Rees review of fees and student support.
The deal means that, while top-up fees of up to £3,000 a year will be introduced in 2007, the poorest Welsh students studying in Wales will pay nothing because means-testing will exempt them from paying the current £1,200 fee and they will also get a £1,800 grant.
The package of measures in the deal also included a national bursary scheme funded from additional money raised through fees and an independent review of funding and support for part-time students.
But the wording of a pledge to address a funding gap in Welsh higher education, estimated by the Rees review group to be £330 million for the next three years, has raised concerns that the Assembly may decide that it does not need to do more than introduce top-up fees to tackle the issue.
In a statement, the Assembly said: "We have agreed to consider whether there are any further steps that should be taken to put our institutions on an equivalent financial footing as their English counterparts."
Barry Johnson, Association of University Teachers Wales assistant general secretary, said that Welsh academics' jobs were at risk if the Assembly failed to follow through the Rees review group's recommendation for a significant increase in higher education funding in addition to introducing fees.
"The politicians have clearly had to run a compromise through the Assembly as the sector was crying out for a decision," he said. "The danger is that, in the process, the issue of the funding gap will become fudged."
Peter Black, the Welsh Liberal Democrat education spokesman who chairs the Labour-controlled Assembly's Education and Lifelong Learning Committee, said the agreement could end up in a fudge over the funding gap.
He said: "It is a compromise agreement. There are lots of different theories on what the funding gap is, and the Assembly Government will have to do some work and come forward with a figure in a few months."
The agreement was condemned as "completely regressive" by Brian Morgan, director of Cardiff Business School's Leadership and Enterprise Unit.
It was inequitable because well-off as well as poor Welsh students would be entitled to the fee grant, which he estimated would cost the Assembly £100 million a year. It would also leave the Assembly open to a legal challenge from students who did not receive the grant.
"Many English students studying in Wales who pay the full fee could well be from poorer backgrounds than some Welsh students who are effectively exempt from top-ups. It's a completely regressive policy and a recipe for disaster," he said.