Full top-up fees at city's universities.

Byline: BY ADRIAN BUTLER Daily Post Staff

LIVERPOOL'S two biggest universities will today announce they are charging the full pounds 3,000 top-up fees for all their places.

But both institutions vowed to increase support for the poorest students as they detailed new funding programmes.

Any universities that want to charge higher fees from 2006 must first reach an 'access agreement' with Sir Martin Harris, head of the Government's higher education access watchdog, to show they are not putting poor students off applying.

Sir Martin, director of the Office for Fair Access to higher education (Offa), said universities had been more generous than he expected with their bursaries.

The University of Liverpool said it plans to use pounds 6m a year - a third of its income from the higher fees - to support students.

Under the university's access agreement, support of up to pounds 11,200 will be available to students over a four-year degree. It will include pounds 1,300 a year for students receiving a full maintenance grant or pounds 1,000 for those on a partial maintenance grant.

To attract applications for science degrees, pounds 1,500 a year will be given to the best students studying Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Electronics, Chemistry, Computer Science, Earth and Ocean Sciences and Physics.

A university spokesperson said: 'We are also investing in additional support for outreach work in schools and colleges to support students in their transition to University through innovative study skills. Liverpool John Moores University will also be charging pounds 3,000 a year for all its courses from 2006.

LJMU has now submitted its Access Agreement and is currently awaiting confirmation.

A spokesperson said: 'This was in order to give the University the maximum time available to formulate a creative programme of bursaries, scholarships, studentships and outreach initiatives that will support the largest number of students. We also needed to liaise with our large number of FE colleges partners and LIPA. LJMU Pro-Vice Chancellor Michele Ibbs said: 'Two thirds of LJMU's full-time undergraduates currently come from low income backgrounds or under-represented groups.

'Our Access Agreement is designed to ensure that the success of future university applicants is determined by their academic ability not their ability to pay.

'We will also be increasing our support to students who are academically gifted through an innovative programme of scholarships.'

Once agreed with OFFA, details of LJMU's new bursaries and scholarships will published in in April 2005 Nationally, more than 100 universities were given the green light to charge students the maximum fees.

And one in three universities will try to attract the brightest students in the country by offering scholarships worth up to pounds 5,000 each.

Education Secretary Ruth Kelly said: 'The sheer strength, scale and variety of the bursary schemes on offer is very impressive

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