Get real, Sir Richard 2

Does Sir Richard know that fees never match costs? The Institute for Research on Higher Education in Philadelphia has revealed that students paying full fees still pay less than the cost of their education. When fees go up, costs do not go down.

Likewise, if Imperial thinks it offers a Mercedes degree at a Vauxhall price, then get Mercedes to pick up the tab. After all, France's Ecole Polytechnique gets this kind of deal.

We saw what collaborative price-fixing by elites did to the Ivy League in the early 1980s. Does Imperial really aim to become the Yale of England? Yale nearly broke ranks last year by saying it would ban fees and make up the difference by increasing annual endowment revenue by a mere 1 per cent.

Craig A. Hamilton
School of English Studies
University of Nottingham