Universities across the South West are facing huge funding cuts after the Government announced plans to slash £100m from the money available for second degrees.

The Government says it will no longer fund adult students wishing to study for degrees if the student already holds a qualification at an equivalent or higher level.

Universities Secretary John Denham says the £100m will instead be spent on students who are taking their first degrees.

And the controversial plans are going to affect many of the South West’s universities and colleges.

The University of Bristol will lose a whooping £1.4m, while the University of Exeter faces a funding shortfall of £1.2m.

The University of Plymouth faces losses of £960,000, the University of Gloucestershire will be £760,000 down and the University of Bournemouth £548,000.

University College Falmouth stands to lose £200,000, the University of Bath will lose £176,000 and Bath Spa University faces cuts of £152,000.

Other Westcountry institutions to lose out include Arts Institute at Bournemouth (£122,000), Swindon College (£54,000), Dartington College of Arts (£42,000), Exeter College (£32,000), Salisbury College (£25,000), Gloucestershire College of Arts and Technology (£15,000), City College Plymouth (£10,000) and Bridgwater College (£8,500).

Barry Taylor, director of communications and marketing at the University of Bristol, said: "Under this proposal, Bristol stands to lose about £500,000 in 2008/09 and over £1m in subsequent years.

"Some might say that is a relatively modest sum from a total budget of well over £300m, but we are concerned about the potential effects and have made our views on the proposal clear.

"We await with interest the final outcome of the consultation."

The Conservatives described the plans as a "slap in the face for many people wishing to make a fresh start in their careers by studying for a second undergraduate degree later in life".

The cuts, which will come into force next September, will most likely affect mothers looking to retrain and return to work, as well as people who want to build on their first degree.

UK students taking a second degree will now face similar financial burdens as overseas students who pay annual tuition fees of about £7,000.

The Open University, which specialises in distance learning courses, will be hit particularly hard by the funding switch and stand to lose a massive £31.6m over the next three years.

The figures were published by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), which is the Government body responsible for distributing money among higher education centres in England.

Commenting on the figures, the HEFCE said: "It is important to note that any savings made from withdrawing funding for equivalent or lower qualification students will be available to redistribute.

"In 2008-09, the total HEFCE grant available to institutions is £7.476m. This represents a cash increase of 3.3 per cent on funding for 2007-08."