The president of the National Union of Students, Aaron Porter, is to stand down amid fierce criticism that he did not fight hard enough to prevent university tuition fees from almost trebling.

The 26-year-old, who has led a high-profile campaign against higher fees and education cuts since he took the post in June, said the union needed a "fresh start".

A source at the NUS said Porter was facing too much personal abuse from students angry that the union had not taken a harder stance against fees and cuts.

Porter was instrumental in organising Liberal Democrat MPs to sign a pledge that they would vote against an increase in tuition fees – a move that came to haunt the Lib Dems when legislation was passed allowing the rise.

Last month, Porter was due to speak at a rally in Manchester, but had to be escorted away when protesters hurled abuse at him. He said they had tried to intimidate him and shouted antisemitic comments. He is not Jewish.

Mary Robertson, a student activist, wrote in the Guardian last month that Porter seemed to have "admitted defeat before the battle over tuition fees had started".

In December, he wrote to Simon Hughes, the government's newly appointed advocate for access to education, saying the NUS was finding it hard to get the government to explain how it would ensure that fees of £9,000, rather than £6,000, would be the exception.

Robertson and other students said Porter's response to the threat to higher education was to "politely request an explanation of how tuition fees will only be doubled rather than tripled in most cases". He had "only belatedly" supported student occupations, she added.

Porter, who is a member of the Labour party, was elected as an independent candidate to the NUS presidency. He achieved a 65% majority and had been expected to stand for re-election. At the time, he said: "Students, families and the wider public overwhelmingly oppose higher fees and I will fight to ensure that politicians listen to them."

Porter had presided over a tumultuous few months for the NUS.

In December, riot police charged at student protesters angry that MPs had voted to raise tuition fees. Police entered Parliament Square to stop students from vandalising the Treasury building. A number of students had started to use concrete blocks and metal poles to smash windows of a building near Victoria, while officers contained them inside the square. Several attacked a car in which Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall were travelling, but the pair were unharmed.

Porter immediately distanced himself and the NUS from the violence.

He said he would be looking for a job in the education sector or a campaigning organisation.

A new president will be elected at the NUS annual conference in April.

Mark Bergfeld, a member of the Socialist Workers party and the spokesman for the Education Activist Network, has already put himself forward as a candidate. Liam Burns, head of NUS Scotland, and Shane Chowen, vice-president of the NUS, have also put themselves forward for the job.