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University tuition fees should partly be based on how a degree course could benefit a student's future career, the Education Secretary has said.

Damian Hinds said he wanted to see a system which would consider a course's value for money to decide the level at which fees are set.

But the university sector have warned that any loss in funding would seriously damage the education that they can provide.

Some university leaders have warned that finding the right balance on tuition fees and university finance is likely to mean a "series of difficult trade-offs".

Prime Minister Theresa May and Education Secretary Damian Hinds are about to launch a review which will consider cutting or freezing £9,250 tuition fees and lowering interest rates to reduce levels of graduate debt.

He has suggested these could be capped at £6,000 - a policy first advocated by former Labour leader Ed Miliband.

It comes as an influential committee of MPs have called on the government to cut student interest rates.

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Mr Hinds told the Sunday Times: "We have a system where you have got almost all institutions and almost all courses at those institutions charging exactly the same price.

"Some have higher returns to the student than others. It's right that we now ask questions about how that system operates. I would like to see options available which have different costs."

He explained his reasoning on The Andrew Marr Show: "I don't think politicians are going to be setting the cost and the prices for different courses. All forms of education, all courses, all subjects have great value, have great worth.

"What we need to look at is the different aspects of pricing - the cost that it is to put on the course, the value that it is to the student and also the value to our society as a whole and to our economy for the future.

"There are some subjects, some areas both in higher education and technical education where we are going to need more of those coming forward in the future because of the changes, because of the new challenges in the world economy."

But Labour's shadow education secretary Angela Rayner warned that "making fees different levels is actually going to cause more chaos in the sector".

On the BBC's Andrew Marr programme Ms Rayner said that the government "aren't leading on this they are being led".

She said: "We have had three announcements of reviews in the last 12 months and eight years of the Conservatives that have damaged higher education and totally decimated our further education infrastructure.

"Another review isn't going to solve the problem of the hike in interest rates which this Government has done and the tripling of tuition fees.

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

"Most students have said that the removal of maintenance grants is one of the biggest barriers to them at the moment and the Government has said nothing on that."

Responding to the suggestion that fees could vary according to the kind of courses she told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "We are told that we need sciences and maths and therefore to make those degrees more expensive flies in the face of what our economy is going to need in the future."

A spokesman for the Russell Group, which represents 24 of the UK's most selective universities, said: "Any changes to the current funding model need to be fair and affordable to students, while still meeting the needs of taxpayers and universities in providing students with a high-quality education and experience."

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU), said the review needed "to be radical and explore genuine alternatives to the current system, not just tinker at the edges of the current failed system".

Alistair Jarvis, the chief executive of Universities UK, told the Sunday Times: "A fees cut would grab the headlines but leave a funding gap. Unless government replaced the money, it would mean bigger class sizes, poorer facilities and less student choice."

He said fees should be determined by "a combination of three things: the cost [to the university] to put it on, the benefit to the student and the benefit to our country and our economy".

Mr Hinds's comments come ahead of the Government's long-awaited review of university funding, which is expected to be announced this week.

(Image: AFP)

It is likely the review will look at issues such as cutting or freezing tuition fees - which cost up to £9,250 a year at English universities - as well as interest rates on loan repayments, which stand at up to 6.1%.

It could also look at areas such as part-time study and living costs.

The review, pledged by Theresa May last autumn, comes amid growing debate about university finance, including student debt and whether students are getting value for money.

According to the Sunday Times, Mr Hinds said the review could also lead to a cut in the number of years for which graduates are expected to keep paying back student loans and a rise in the amount they must earn before they start repayments.

Meanwhile the Treasury Select Committee says it is unconvinced by "questionable" claims in support of charging up to 6.1% on loans that cover fees and living costs.