A controversial higher education bill, which would have allowed private firms from other countries to set up their own universities in the UK, has been dropped by Westminster.

Last week the government decided not to include the unnamed bill in this year’s Queen’s Speech - which includes all the scheduled bills the government wishes to introduce in parliament for the coming year - apparently shelving the legislation indefinitely.

Despite appearances to the contrary, the move indicates that pressure from student activists upon the government to slow down reforms of the higher education sector may be working.

Whilst claiming the move as a victory for his organisation, Liam Burns, the President of the National Union of Students (NUS) warned that, “many of the most damaging proposals contained in the government’s white paper can now happen under the radar… the platform that would have allowed us to defeat these moves where we can, and secure protections where we can’t has been denied to us”. In a comment piece for The Guardian newspaper, Burns said the bill represented “essentially a legislative hit and run”.

Designed to increase competition in the higher education sector, it would have allowed American private colleges and education firms to set up their own universities. The Higher Education Minister David Willets had hoped for the legislature to be a flagship reform, and is reported to be disappointed by the discarding of the bill.

The NUS said that, “The government must come clean now on what changes they have planned for higher education and not leave it until after the next election to clean up the mess their car crash policy making has made.

“Having lost the battle of public opinion over the trebling of tuition fees, the government is clearly not up for another public battle on its plans to sell off our education and will look to do it in private and under the radar instead.”

Matt McPherson, President of Edinburgh University Students’ Association (EUSA), agreed with Burns, telling The Student, “I am extremely suspicious of the government’s decision to drop the HE Bill. I think people would be wrong to assume that this government is back-peddling - on tactic, maybe - but certainly not on principle and policy.

“This is in fact a worse position for us as students to be in, as dropping the bill allows for universities to become privatised, and for student power to be sucked out, without it ever going through a properly democratic process.

“We should be deeply concerned by the situation we are now in, and I will be working closely with the NUS President Liam Burns to make sure we remain informed and active about what the next few weeks could bring.”