A UNION leader said today that Rishi Sunak's plans to cap student intake on so-called poor quality courses at English universities undermines the “most fundamental values of education.”

The Prime Minister had said “we’re clamping down” on people being taken “advantage of with low-quality courses that don’t lead to a job that it makes it worth it, leaves them financially worse off.”

But Jo Grady, general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU), dismissed his comments as attempts to turn universities into “production lines for the job market.”

She urged him to scrap tuition fees and pay workers fairly instead.

Ms Grady told the Morning Star: “Rishi Sunak has launched yet another political attack on one of Britain’s last world-leading sectors.

“Universities serve the public good in so many ways that aren’t captured by these blinkered Tory metrics. The value of getting a degree cannot be narrowly tied to ‘earning potential.’

“Our members foster opportunities and open new horizons for their students every day. We know that attempts to turn universities into production lines for the job market undermine the most fundamental values of education.

“If the Tory vision for higher education wins out, the arts and humanities will become the sole preserve of the privileged, confining many working-class kids to technical study.”

The announcement by Mr Sunak and Education Secretary Gillian Keegan is part of the government’s response to the Augar review, established by former PM Theresa May in 2017.

Shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “This is simply an attack on the aspirations of young people and their families by a government that wants to reinforce the class ceiling, not smash it."

Munira Wilson, Liberal Democrat education spokeswoman, called it “a cap on aspiration.”

Education minister Robert Halfon denied the policy was an attack on arts and humanities courses.