The conclusions of report on university funding are likely to be greeted by students like a 9 o’clock seminar on a Monday morning. The Confederation of British Industry says the extra money needed to fund universities should come from savings in the student support system, i.e. making students pay higher fees and more interest on loans. Law students will be particularly horrified given the ever-rising cost of law school fees that will need to be added on top.

The report also says universities should focus more on economically valuable subjects such as science, technology, engineering, maths and languages and urges ministers to abandon their target of getting half of young people into university. (We didn’t see law mentioned in there!?)

Richard Lambert, the Director-General of the CBI, said, “If cuts have to be made, they should be focused on what, by international standards, are generous levels of funding for student support,”

Wes Streeting, president of the National Union of Students, described it as offensive, saying: “Students are already leaving university with record levels of debt, while graduate job prospects are at an all-time low. Instead of recommending that students are fleeced even more than they already are, the CBI should start looking at how they might put something back into the system themselves.”

Charge students more, say bosses [BBC]