Sir, Michelle Donelan, the new universities minister, is to be congratulated for introducing a timely two-week moratorium on university undergraduate admissions. This has brought temporary stability to the higher education system.
Demand for higher education remains strong and our country still needs to increase both the level of skills and educational opportunity. Seven years ago the government ended its control of undergraduate numbers in England and we witnessed a significant redistribution of undergraduates across institutions, with all the associated instability that The Times has reported.
In normal times, the new higher education market works to the benefit of the student but at this time of crisis I would encourage the government to go further to support stability and reintroduce student number control for the coming