High Court rules that fee increases do not breach students' human rights

Despite ruling that the government failed to meet all of its public sector equality duties with regards to its tuition fee policy, the High Court has rejected a judicial review bid claiming that the fee hikes represent a breach of students' human rights. The court ruled that the government's failure to meet its equality obligations is not enough to justify scrapping the fee increases, a decision that also took into account the social and logistical upheaval that would ensue if the policy was abolished at this stage.

The case was brought by sixth form pupils Katy Moore and Callum Hurley, who have both since professed intentions to go to university despite the High Court's judgment. As reported in The Lawyer, their claim rested on the argument that the fee hikes would discourage less socially and economically privileged people from going to university, which was argued to be a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Lord Justice Elias, presiding over the case with Mr Justice King, said: "If charging fees of this magnitude is unlawful, public resources will have to be provided at the expense of other competing and pressing interests. Moreover, there's an inevitable tension between widening higher education so as to catch everyone who can benefit from it whilst maintaining the highest standards, and funding that increase. In my judgment, significant leeway must be given to the democratically accountable secretary of state as to how the objective of providing sustainable and quality higher education can be best secured."