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Mike Robinson, national officer for higher education at the Unite union, claimed today that there was ¡°anecdotal evidence¡± of institutions ¡°worried¡± they had ¡°acted in concert¡± by having discussions about the issue.

Giving evidence to the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee¡¯s inquiry into the government¡¯s funding reforms, Mr Robinson said the decision by most institutions to charge ?9,000 was not accidental.

¡°The level of fee setting worries my union,¡± he said. ¡°The number of institutions that are going at the ?9,000 level we don¡¯t think is an accident, we think it is deliberate. Whether it¡¯s planned between them is our concern and we think that is something that you need to look at.¡±

He added: ¡°We are looking at institutions that haven¡¯t taken a very transparent view about how they set their fees.¡±

After the hearing, Mr Robinson said the Office of Fair Trading would have to investigate if specific evidence of collusion emerged.

¡°The fee increases are a runaway train with an enormous financial crash at the end that the public purse will have to pick up,¡± he said. ¡°We are hoping there is no collusion between universities to all charge the highest rate, but it has become a status symbol for vice-chancellors, greedy to maintain income and, of course, their own salary levels.¡±

Of the 31 universities that have so far announced their fees plans for 2012, 22 of them are to charge a flat rate of ?9,000.

simon.baker@tsleducation.com