A NEW cap on student numbers will dent Oxford Brookes University’s plans to open up courses to hundreds more people.

Brookes had hoped to expand its programme of foundation degree courses at partner colleges – including Abingdon and Witney, Oxford and Cherwell Valley and Ripon College in Cuddesdon – with an additional 450 places from September.

That would allow the university to attract more local people, mature students, and those who do not usually consider higher education.

But the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has set the limit on certain undergraduate students at 10.6 per cent fewer than the current academic year.

That means the 450 extra places – to study such subjects as business, IT and mechanical engineering – at the partner colleges will dwindle to between 200 and 300.

Brookes registrar Paul Large said: “Obviously it is a disappointment that number has gone down.

“Further education colleges are very close to our local communities.

“They are not threatening places so people who wouldn’t go to university are often quite happy to go to their FE college.”

It is also a cheaper alternative. A foundation degree from Brookes costs £6,000 per year, with the option of taking a third year ‘top-up’ to a full degree for £7,000.

Fees for full undergraduate degrees are £9,000 per year.

Mr Large said: “Anything we can do to both lower the debt they are getting into and help cut other costs like living expenses has to be positive, which is why we are a little frustrated.”

The university’s HEFCE grant will drop from little more than £39million for 2011/12 to £28.8million next year.

Mr Large said this was not unexpected and increased fees would leave the university in roughly the same financial position.

The university saw a surge in applications for this coming year, with seven applicants per place.

Among those who has been offered a place for a sports coaching degree, is Lee Fieldwick, 17, from Cowley, headboy at Oxford Spires Academy.

He said: “I’m quite lucky getting an offer.

“A lot of my friends who wanted to study there haven’t got an offer, which is surprising because other universities have been lapping them up.

“The money is obviously not there.”

l Oxford University saw a £9m drop in its funding allocation for 2012/2013.

Spokesman Ruth Collier said the increased fee income would make up for cuts to teaching funding.

She said: “We knew that a big cut in teaching funding was coming in conjunction with the rise of the fees cap.

“Only around half the costs of an Oxford education for UK/EU students have ever been met by the combination of fees and government funding, and the new system does relatively little to change that.”