THE INCOMING director of the London School of Economics has refused to commit the school to undergraduate tuition fees, despite approval for the idea from the court of governors.
Anthony Giddens said: "I want to look at the whole economic position of the LSE before deciding which way it should go."
LSE governors agreed in principle last week to a Pounds 1,000 top-up fee for full-time home undergraduates, referring the decision to an executive committee. All eyes are now turned to Professor Giddens, who takes over the chairmanship of the committee when he becomes director next month.
Acting director Leslie Hannah said that Professor Giddens would exercise "substantial influence" on the committee, composed of 16 members of the court of governors plus two student representatives. He said there was still only a 50 per cent chance that the outline scheme would be agreed in the next six months.
"Giddens and I agree on this - we have to have this option, but we're not certain that we want to implement it," he added.
No decision is expected from the standing committee in the immediate future. If implemented, the proposal would come into effect in September 1998. It would make the LSE the first publicly-funded university to charge fees to home-based full-time undergraduates.
The scheme agreed last week would bring an estimated Pounds 2 million, of which half would be returned to poorer students to prevent undergraduates being excluded by poverty. The top-up fee would form part of a drive to reduce the LSE's deficit, projected to reach Pounds 3.7 million by 2000.