Blair's £200m deal for universities

13 April 2012

Tony Blair was hit by a row today over plans to give £200million of taxpayers' money to universities that attract private donations.

Critics said it would mean a bonanza for elite universities such as Oxford and Cambridge, while doing little for redbrick institutions.

Mr Blair wants all colleges to mimic the American tradition of soliciting gifts and bequests from former students who have gone on to success.

Under his scheme, the Government will give a £1 reward for every £2 that universities raise from their own efforts.

But Sally Hunt, joint head of the University and College Union, said: "Any extra money is to be welcomed, but the obsession with cherry-picking parts of the American model is not the way forward.

"There is not the same culture in this country of former students donating to their alma mater, and no guarantee that all universities would benefit."

Gemma Tumelty, president of the National Union of Students, said

American fundraising had widened the gap between Ivy League universities and less prestigious rivals.

"Given the huge divide between Harvard-

style excellence and countless other less elite universities in the USA, the apparent determination to emulate the American system is deeply worrying."

Downing Street hopes the scheme will generate £600 million and promote a

lasting culture of people giving cash to their old universities.

It follows pleas for more money from Oxford and Cambridge, which say £3,000 tuition fees are not enough for them to compete with the world's best

universities.

Mr Blair said: "It is important that our universities have every

opportunity to raise the resources they need. That's why this fundraising plan is so important."

A No 10 report found that almost a third of Harvard's income came from endowments worthmore than £13 billion. Typical gift income for UK universities was just 1.4 per cent.

A similar incentive scheme was "a major success" in Canada while the

potential was revealed when St John's College, Cambridge, ran a £1million scheme.

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