at the Bishop Challoner Catholic Collegiate School in East London, the deputy prime minister said fears that the number of students attending university would ¡°plummet¡± had ¡°failed to materialise¡± and in fact ¡°the exact opposite has happened¡±.

According to Ucas, the number of students entering higher education in 2013 rose by around 7 per cent.

But in the previous academic year (2012-13) the number of UK undergraduates fell by 7 per cent to 1,577,440, with a drop of almost a fifth among part-time students, according to the Higher Education Statistics Agency.

Mr Clegg claimed that ¡°we now have the highest application rates ever¡±.

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According to released after the January applications deadline this year, ¡°application rates for 18 year olds for each UK country are at, or very near, the highest levels recorded¡±.

He said he was ¡°sorry¡± not to have delivered on the party¡¯s pre-election pledge to oppose an increase in fees, but sought to justify the decision.

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¡°The previous Labour government had introduced fees, increased them and then commissioned a review into raising them again. Clearly the Conservative Party wanted them to go up,¡± Mr Clegg said.

¡°And while the Liberal Democrats made a pledge before the election not to increase fees, we couldn¡¯t deliver it. Not a policy that expensive at a time when there¡¯s less money to go around, and especially not in coalition when compromises have to be made,¡± he continued.

david.matthews@tsleducation.com