MY wife and I flew to the south of France to visit our youngest daughter who is teaching out there.

She lives in Aix-en-Provence which is the kind of university town that Worcester would love to be.

The strange thing is that while students in Britain appear to bring little benefit to a community other than line the pockets of landlords and keeping folk awake at night, in France they have a mainly civilising influence.

There are other differences, too. In Britain, it costs students anything between £15,000 and £25,000 to complete their studies. These are loans and must be paid back. The Bank of Mum and Dad plus the odd part-time job make up the rest. In France, students pay about 180 euros a year for the same privilege – about £100. No wonder French youngsters have more money to spend and that’s why the economy of their university towns is so much more vibrant than our own.

Of course, the Tories introduced the loans system and this was enthusiastically continued by New Labour once they gained power in 1997, despite assurances that they would repeal the legislation.

It doesn’t hurt to remind the cap ‘n’ gown brigade of this every once in a while.