Federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne says the coalition has no plans to increase university fees despite the tough fiscal position facing the government.

Mr Pyne repeated a pre-election promise not to increase the HECS fees paid by students, or cap government-funded places.

“I’m not even considering it because we promised that we wouldn’t,” he told Sky News on Sunday.

“(Prime Minister) Tony Abbott made it very clear before the election that we would keep our promises.

“We want university students to make their contribution, but we’re not going to raise fees and we’re not going to put the cap back on.”

The minister also pledged there would be no cuts to universities in the May budget.

“Tony Abbott has already indicated that we will not be cutting education or health,” he said.

“I’m not going to jump ahead of the budget in May next year (but) the education budget as forecast over the next four years will not be cut by the coalition, that’s very clear.”