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John Ashworth, vice-chancellor of the University of Salford, called for a free-market solution to universities' financial problems in place of "demoralising dependency" on Government. He attacked the Tories' Education Reform Bill for not going far enough, urging ministers to let universities charge students the full cost of a degree, an average of ?5,000 a year. "Only then would we see the enterprising, flexible and socially responsive higher education institutions extolled in ministerial rhetoric," he said.

The University of Aberdeen announced that it was to award an honorary degree to "publisher and philanthropist" Robert Maxwell, for ten years the owner of Aberdeen University Press.