London Metropolitan University, in Holloway Road

AN Islington university has announced it will charge the maximum £9,000 for all undergraduate courses starting in autumn 2012.

City University, in Northampton Square, Finsbury, which has around 21,000 students, has followed the lead of many other universities in setting its fees at or close to the highest level allowed, after the Conservative-led government forced through huge rises in the face of large-scale protests last year.

The London Metropolitan University, in Holloway Road, Holloway, announced last month it would buck this trend and charge a range of amounts with an average of between £6,000 and £7,000.

A spokeswoman for London Met said: “We are the only institution so far to be looking at variable pricing for tuition fees. Our course prices will begin at £4,500 with only a small handful being priced towards the top end of the scale. The average course price will be between £6,000 and £7,000.”