THE University of Gloucestershire should not need to charge students £9,000 a year to fill a funding gap left by Government cuts, a minister has said.

David Willetts, Universities Minister, insisted institutions should only charge the maximum tuition fees allowed under the Government's reforms under "exceptional" circumstances.

That is despite the revelation that the University of Gloucestershire will be hit with a four per cent funding reduction this year.

It means modules for some courses are set to be axed.

Data published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England shows that its recurrent teaching grant will be cut from around £23.3m to £22.3m in 2011/12.

Communications director Paul Drake said the reduction, which had been budgeted for, would affect "all aspects of its activity" ranging from teaching to research and business innovation.

Asked if it would result in job losses or cuts to teaching hours, he said: "It will mean none of those things.

"We are looking at how efficient our modular scheme is.

"Some modules attract very few students, which makes them less efficient. There is no point lecturers turning up when there is no one in the classroom."

The University of Gloucestershire will announce its fees on July 11.

Fees are currently £3,290 a year. But the University and College Union is predicting that from 2012 the university will be required to charge £6,842 to maintain the current level of resources. Mr Willetts said: "On our calculations, you do not need fees to go as high as £9,000."