Higher education in Britain is on the verge of a revolution - no, several revolutions. The pressures fuelling these revolutions are many. By general agreement, the sector is grossly underfunded. In these very cash-limited times, it is unlikely this funding gap will be bridged by the taxpayer or employers. The money will have to come from students.

Next year, there will be a critical debate on whether to raise the cap on top-up university tuition fees in England, currently £3,000 per annum. David Eastwood, the outgoing Chief Executive of the English Funding Council, recently hypothesised that, given the economic recession, politicians may not wish to raise the cap at all. But this will only make an already dire funding situation even worse. Currently, we tolerate a situation in which working-class taxpayers subsidise middle-class students. This is indefensible. And if the Treasury finds some genuine extra money for education, it must surely go into the primary and secondary sectors.

The cap must be raised. But by how much? A straw poll I conducted among colleagues in British higher education this year suggests that the sector is looking to a figure of around £6,000 per annum. If the cap were abolished, I believe the going rate would in any case coalesce around this sum. This would increase the average cost of a bachelor's degree to £18,000. Students, who are already beginning to think seriously about the value of the first degree in terms of the extra earning power that it might or might not provide will be bound to think harder still.