Universities face financial challenges

A report by Universities UK (UUK) has warned that universities will face financial challenges due to increased fees and tighter control on student immigration.

Tuition fees tripled from 2012, with universities allowed to charge up to £9,000 a year.

UUK suggested that this has contributed to a decrease in student numbers and that this could pose funding challenges for universities in the short to medium term as well as provide long-term implications for the UK’s workforce.

In 2012, UK universities recruited around 28,000 fewer students, which was nine percent lower than expected. Similarly, student enrolment at the University of Warwick fell four percent from 2011 to 2012.

The study also found a fall in the number of postgraduate students. Statistics from Warwick University showed that there was a seven percent decrease in the number of full-time postgraduate students from 2011 to 2012.

Tighter rules on student immigration has also had an effect on the number of international students at UK universities, the report claimed.

The study suggested that there were “significant” reductions in the number of new entrants to UK universities from countries such as India, Pakistan and Nigeria.

However, statistics from the University of Warwick did not show a change in the number of entrants from such countries in 2012.

UUK said that the decline in student numbers and university entrants meant that the UK has missed out on millions of pounds.

Meanwhile, a statement produced at the end of the last academic year suggested that Warwick University is not struggling financially.

Income from tuition fees rose 12.6 percent from 2010 to 2011. The University’s financial surplus also rose from 20 million to 31 million from the 2010/11 academic year to the 2011/12 academic year.

Despite this, the University had recently introduced plans to raise tuition fees for international and postgraduate students by 4.5 percent.

When asked how this could be justified, a spokesperson for the University of Warwick said: “We continually reinvest our surplus into the university – particularly the student experience and research.

“If you look around the campus you will see considerable capital investment and we require such surpluses just to fund that. In the last year for instance you will have seen the creation of the new Rootes Grid and Leamington Grid, and the refurbished sports centre.”