For those of you who don’t know, the Browne report has been released today and it looks as though the government will recommend that the cap on university tuition fees, currently set at £3,290, will be abolished, allowing universities to charge whatever they like for tuition at their institutions.

Previously, a university education was free until September 1998, when the government decided to introduce an annual tuition fee, set at £1,250. After this the fees remained at the same amount, until September 2005 when the government decided to increase the tuition fees to over £3000. Now it looks like if you want to study at university you may be charged as much as £7000 a year.

Now I was lucky, and I don’t mind admitting it. I started studying at university just before the top-up fees were introduced, so my university education was free. However, would I make the same decisions now if I had to pay tuition fees? Quite frankly I doubt it. I studied for four years at the University of Southampton and with the new fees that are being proposed, this would have cost me £28,000! The thought of being shackled with this amount of debt honestly fills me with dread and I can only pity those students who are looking at going to university in the future. How can anyone honestly believe that this huge amount of debt would not put people off studying?

I studied Physics with Space Science, not because I wanted a high paid job (trust me you don’t go into physics for the money), but because I loved the subject and always wanted to learn about rockets and space. That may sound childish, but the whole point of university is to follow your aspirations and dreams, developing yourself as person as well, which in the long run benefits society.

Now, without a guaranteed high paid job after I finished studying, how could I justify such a huge debt hanging over my head? Putting it simply, I couldn’t and wouldn’t want to. I would have studied a subject like business of economics, hoping that this would lead to a well paid job. Sadly, I don’t think I would be alone in this view and the overall effect on science research in the future could prove devastating as we simply won’t have the motivated fresh blood coming through to continue Britain’s proud tradition of science.

The second massive issue facing UK science is the looming 45% cuts in science funding. Vince Cable, the current business secretary, has proposed that cuts need to be made in science funding, to try and help pay back some of the national debt. Now I don’t deny that in a recession, funding for everything will face cut-backs and science should not be immune. However, a 45% cut is absolutely mad!

I love science and believe that science makes a massive contribution to this country and its economy. You may not know this, but the UK science sector is one of the most productive in the world, and thanks to scientists in this country, huge advancements in our understanding of the world around us have been made. Just looking at my own area of solar physics, you may feel that learning about processes going on in the Sun really won’t affect our daily lives. However, understanding the Sun could lead to new fuel sources such as nuclear fusion, which would be worth billions to the economy. Not only that, but instruments developed to study the Sun and stars have been modified for medical uses, such as gamma ray detectors, saving thousands of lives each year. Cutting science funding is short sighted and in the long term will lead to an overall loss in money coming into the UK, not a saving!

So what will happen once the economic crisis is over? Surely funding will return and everything will be ok? Well, it won’t be that simple once departments are closed and researchers have found jobs elsewhere. It won’t be easy to turn the tap back on and get everything running as it was before. Research groups are built on years of hard work and research and are incredibly vulnerable to cuts in funding.

Unfortunately both of these factors could have a crippling effect on UK science, one which may be hard to recover from. However, whilst the outlook might be bleak its not certain and there are still things you can do to try and stop the cuts and prevent the increase in tuition fees. Write to your local MP, telling them your concerns and what you would like to see happen. Your MP is your representative in parliament and so has to listen to what you are saying. You can also join the campaign at science is vital http://scienceisvital.org.uk/ adding your voice to the thousands who have already signed up. Most importantly don’t give up! This is your future, so make sure you fight for it.