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There is an alternative to destroying undergraduate teaching in the arts and humanities and hiking tuition fees by 300 per cent. If Vince Cable is serious about getting tough with the banks, he should contemplate surcharging them to secure the future of ÖйúAƬ.

The proceeds from the eventual sale of the nationalised banks should also be invested in education. This is surely a fair deal given that the bankers, not the students, created the financial mess responsible for the shortfall in the university budget.

With no serious alternative sources of funding on the horizon, the present legislation paves the way for exponential fee hikes. Draconian cuts eventually will be rolled out to the sciences and medical teaching and research unless the coalition's plan is challenged. Otherwise, the academy will become the privilege of only the very wealthy and beyond the reach of most Britons.

Anthony Rodriguez, Middlesex.