Universities in Birmingham could lose £100 million in funding under Government spending cuts, it has emerged.

Research by House of Commons officials suggested the University of Birmingham, one of Britain’s most prestigious colleges with a world-wide reputation, is set to lose £44 million alone.

The cash will be replaced by increased tuition fees paid by students, under Government plans to let universities charge up to £9,000 a term.

Figures were published after Business Minister David Willets announced that universities would be allowed to increase fees dramatically from the current limit of £3,290 a year.

But higher fees have been welcomed by the University of Birmingham - which said it needed the money to make up for the cut in Government funding.

Professor David Eastwood, the university’s Vice-Chancellor, said: “Following the significant cut to universities’ public funding, a cap of £9,000 is the minimum required for leading universities to compete in the global higher education market.”

A full breakdown of funding cuts for each university has not yet been announced by the Government, but Ministers have said that the total cash available nationally will drop from £7.1 billion to £4.2 billion.

It is expected that teaching grants will be cut by 80 per cent. Ministers have also said that funding for arts courses will be cut more than funding for mathematics, technology, science and engineering degrees.

The House of Commons library has produced figures estimating the effect on individual universities.

Birmingham University currently receives teaching funding of £89 million but this could be cut by £44 million, according to the study.

Aston University receives £29 million and is set to lose £18 million. Birmingham City University receives £41 million and could lose £32 million, while Birmingham College of Food, Tourism and Creative Studies could lose its entire £8 million teaching budget, according to the study.

Funding for Warwick University, which receives a teaching budget of £51 million, could be cut by an estimated £29 million.

Wolverhampton University, which currently receives £50 million for teaching, could lose £41 million.

John Denham, Labour’s shadow Business Secretary, said: “The Government has produced the worst of all possible worlds. Universities will need to charge fees of at least £7,500 just to avoid losing money, so those that can’t will be forced to cut quality and dumb-down. Most students will be paying off debts for 30 years.”

Students condemned the reforms. Dora Meredith, president at the University of Birmingham Guild of Students, said: “The threefold increase in fees is going to mean students tackling an astronomical level of debt, a total that outweighs the level of income for many households.”

Prof Eastwood said Birmingham University backed government efforts to ensure students from all backgrounds could enter higher education.

“Universities such as Birmingham have led the way in pioneering fair access to leading universities and we will continue to strengthen our outreach and access programmes.”