University challenge - how to pay £18k a year

A GROUP of the world's leading academics have launched a new English university which they hope will rival Oxford and Cambridge.

The New College of the Humanities (NCH) will charge fees of 18,000 a year and offer the "highest-quality" education to "gifted" undergraduates, according to its creators.

But the Scottish Government yesterday gave a frosty response to the prospect of a similar set-up north of the Border, insisting education should not be based on ability to pay.

Renowned Harvard University-based Scottish Professor Niall Ferguson is among the high-profile names from the academic world signed up to teach at the privately-funded independent seat of learning, which will be based in Bloomsbury, central London, and is due to open in September 2012.

It will initially offer eight undergraduate humanities degrees taught by some of the world's most prominent intellectuals, college officials said.

Professor AC Grayling, the philosopher who will be the college's first Master, secured millions of pounds of funding from investors to set up the institution, which has been likened to America's elite liberal arts colleges.

He said: "Our priorities at the college will be excellent teaching quality, excellent ratios of teachers to students, and a strongly supportive and responsive learning environment.

"Our students will be challenged to develop as skilled, informed and reflective thinkers, and will receive an education to match that aspiration."

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A recent Scottish Government consultation explored the prospect of alternative methods of provisions and university structures, but met with little support.

"Scottish ministers would be wary about such initiatives in Scotland," a spokesman for the government said.

"The Scottish Government firmly believes that access to higher education should be based on the ability to learn rather than the ability to pay."

The new institution claims to offer a "new model of higher education for the humanities in the UK" and will prepare undergraduates for degrees in law, economics and humanities subjects including history, philosophy and English literature.

Students will also take three "intellectual skills" modules in science literacy, logic and critical thinking and applied ethics.

Practical professional skills to prepare them for the world of work - including financial literacy, teamwork, presentation and strategy - will also be taught.

College chiefs say students will receive a "best in class education", with one-to-one tutorials, more than 12 contact hours a week and a ten-to-one student-to-teacher ratio.

Prof Grayling said that budget cuts and dwindling resources are likely to limit both quantity and quality of teaching in the UK, leaving the fabric of society poorer as a result.The 14 professors behind the project include evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and eminent historian Sir David Cannadine. All will teach. Prospective students can apply immediately, with the college offering assisted places to more than 20 per cent of the first year's intake.