STUDENT union representatives have slammed proposals to increase university tuition fees and slash places for UK students.

Michael Payne, president of the University of Lancaster Student Union, said increasing annual fees from £3,225 to £5,000 was not the solution to anticipated cuts in government funding.

“The Confederation of British Industry which has called for the rise in fees says students have to accept this is inevitable,” he said. “Well I don’t accept this. I think people who make comments like this are grossly hypocritical. They are not talking about their own children they are talking about other people’s children.

“The debate that needs to be had is not about tuition fees but the funding of higher education as a whole,” he added.

Similarly, Andy Gutkowski, vice president of the University of Cumbria Student Union at Ambleside, said £5,000 was an “astronomical” amount to ask of students during a recession.

“The fees were only recently put up,” he said. “This did help universities but also landed student with more debt.”

The call for increased tuition fees coincides with news that leading universities plan to slash thousands of UK undergraduate places if the government presses ahead with a 20 to 25 per cent funding cut after the next election.

They hope lucrative foreign students, who pay three times as much as British students, will fill the places and generate money to avoid staff cuts.

In its strategic plan, Lancaster University revealed its intention to increase its international contingent by 50 per cent by 2015, but pledged to maintain rather than cut the number of UK places.

Demand for university places soared this year, as rising unemployment prompted more school leavers to embark on higher education courses.

At the University of Lancaster clearing places were snapped up within weeks and, at the University of Cumbria, admissions rose by more than 25 per cent.

Mr Payne and Mr Gutkowski agreed international students were an important part of university life, bringing money, culture and experience into Britain.

However, both argued the government should stick to its pledge to encourage 50 per cent of school leavers to attend university.

Cumbria and Lancaster student unions also support the idea of replacing tuition fees with a new graduate tax.

The scheme would scrap up front fees and loans and see graduates pay the university a proportion of their income once they begin work.