As one of the largest universities in the East of England, the future employability of our students, our focus on student success and our ongoing commitment to supporting wider access to higher education, has been fundamental in our decision to charge £7,500 - £8,300 a year tuition fees from September 2012.

We are proposing to charge new UK and EU full time students starting a foundation degree or Higher National Diploma/Certificate a fee of £7,500. This reflects our ongoing commitment to encourage those with academic ability to consider higher education as something that is appropriate and accessible to them. For other new students starting a full time undergraduate course leading to a degree we are proposing to charge £8,300. This does not affect any of our existing undergraduate students, to whom our previous access agreement applies for the duration of their course.

This decision will ensure that we will be able to focus on implementing a new Employability Strategy, building on our current track record of high graduate employment and also enable us to provide greater support for less advantaged students, helping them to stay on course, succeed in their studies and find suitable graduate jobs. Over the last few years our focus in this area has ensured that we have exceeded the government benchmark for retention of students. To continue this work we have introduced a £3.4million package of scholarships and bursaries to help with tuition fees and living costs for students from lower income groups.

Every university's fee proposals and support packages for students are subject to agreement by the Office for Fair Access (OFFA). We will receive confirmation of our proposed fees in July 2011.