Universities in England learned on Thursday how sweeping budget cuts will be in the next academic year, as the British government published details of how it will allocate $11.3-billion to more than 250 higher-education institutions. That sum is $877-million less than the current year's budget, although the government council that distributes funds for higher education said the actual reduction was less after adjusting for capital shifts in previous years' budgets.
The allocations mark the first time in the dozen years since the Labour Party came to power that universities have faced a reduction in funds, according to the BBC.
Sir Alan Langlands, chief executive of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, said in a written statement that in the face of "testing economic times," the council had prioritized "key policies, including widening participation, supporting strategically important and vulnerable subjects, strengthening the research base, and promoting interaction with the business community."
Research activity is being promoted in part by concentrating $2.4-billion in dedicated support at fewer institutions. According to The Guardian, "just 10 universities will be given 49 percent of all research money," with the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford receiving 15 percent of the total.
The biggest cut overall was a $116-million reduction in the teaching budget, followed by a withdrawal of $61-million from the budget for maintenance and upkeep up historic buildings.
Reaction to the long-awaited budget details was swift. Universities UK, which represents the chief executives of all British universities, noted in a written statement that "around half of higher-education institutions have seen a cash decrease" in comparison with the 2009-10 academic year. But the organization also said that it recognized "the pressures imposed by the current economic climate" and underscored "that in the majority of cases these decreases have been 1 percent or less."
Some institutions, however, will experience larger reductions. The London Business School will see its public support slashed by 13.9 percent in real terms, The Guardian reported, and the Courtauld Institute of Art in London will see a 12.9-percent cut. The London School of Economics and Political Science faces an 8.3-percent cut, the newspaper said, while Cambridge and Oxford will have their overall budgets reduced by 1.9 percent and 1 percent, respectively.
The director general of the Russell Group, which represents Britain's 20 leading research-intensive universities, said the budget details "will pose real challenges" for the group.
Despite the priority on research and a 2.5-percent increase in research funds for institutions in the group, the universities also see a decrease of 2.8 percent in money for teaching, exacerbating "an existing shortfall in teaching funding," the director general, Wendy Piatt, said in a written statement. The cut comes at a time when "competitors in Europe, Asia, and the United States are pouring more resources into higher-education as a strategy for coming out of recession," she added.
The University and College Union, Britain's main faculty union, warned in its statement "that a reduction in funding for English universities would leave thousands of students without a university place and lead to an inevitable drop in the quality of university education."
Sally Hunt, the union's general secretary, said that "the cuts could lead to thousands of jobs being lost and the staff who survive the cull left with more students to teach and less time to spend with them. Anyone who thinks this won't massively impact on the quality of education in this country is living in a dream world."
And the National Union of Students warned of a "summer of chaos," as the impact of reduced funds for places at universities becomes evident. Wes Streeting, the student union's president, said that "potential students and their families need honesty and openness about how the mounting crisis in university places will be addressed."
Comments
1. dmaratto - March 18, 2010 at 09:42 pm
Different sides of the ocean, same problems.
I especially find it striking that, just like in America, the rich get richer and the poor get screwed. Sir Alan says the government "prioritized key policies, including widening participation" (just like Obama/Duncan), then later the article reveals that Oxford and Cambridge (analogous to Harvard and Yale) will get 15 percent of the research money. Everyone else gets to fight over table scraps, I guess. This depression will see the elite, extra-rich universities on both sides of the pond emerge stronger and with a greater market share, while the publics and smaller schools go the way of the buffalo. Cheerio, educational choices!
2. klblk - March 19, 2010 at 02:45 am
Different side of the ocean, different educational systems.
Oxford and Cambridge's share of research income is not disproportionate if you consider the results of the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, which determines where research funding goes (until the next comprehensive research census).
UK universities compete for the best students, not for "market share", for a number of reasons.
a. UK Universities (with one exception) are all public universities.
b. Undergraduate students at Oxford and Cambridge pay exactly the same tuition as students at any other UK university (tuition is set and capped by the government), no more, no less.
c. The number of undergraduate students that a UK university may accept is capped by the government, and each student taken over the quota is heavily penalised by the government.
d. Undergraduates may apply to up to six universities, but may only apply to Oxford OR Cambridge, not both.
3. observer001 - March 19, 2010 at 11:22 pm
Post number 2 does an excellent job of explaining why the UK system is moribund (much like a failing state university system in the United States. Apart from the fact that it can't pay competitive salaries to attract and keep the best and brightest professors, it is structured to be unable and unwilling to accomodate all of even a small country's best and brightest students. If they are willing to pay full tuition, we'll take them in the U.S.