Higher tuition fees and more government support needed to protect universities, education chiefs warn

Leading education groups have called on the Government to further increase university funding, warning that current measures do not go far enough to save cash-strapped institutions from collapse. 

Earlier this month, university presidents from across the UK highlighted the financial struggles faced by institutions at hearings of the House of Commons’ Education Selection Committee.

At the evidence sessions, representatives from the Russell Group and Universities UK stressed that an increase in funding is essential for universities to be able to sustain operations.

It’s pretty self-evident that if institutions are running deficits […] then significant structural change is not deliverable

Sir Nigel Carrington, Chair of higher education reform taskforce

Further increases to the cap set on undergraduate tuition fees, which is already set to rise to £9,535 this year, have been outlined as one potential solution by a taskforce set up by Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson to explore reforms to higher education.

Sir Nigel Carrington, a former university vice-chancellor who is chairing the taskforce, said that “individual efficiencies and opportunities” was the group’s original focus.

However, with increasing funding issues, he said: “It’s pretty self-evident that if institutions are running deficits […] then significant structural change is not deliverable.”

University bosses have also called on the Government to address the increasing deficit in UK university research budgets, and to recognise the significance that international students play in university operations in the UK.

Dr Hollie Chandler, Director of Policy for the Russell Group, said: “The financial pressures [facing universities] are such that action does need to be taken to ensure [their] future.”

88% of new jobs will be graduate-level roles and the Industrial Strategy high-growth sectors are particularly reliant on graduate skills, so we do need to see sustainable growth in the sector to achieve the graduates needed for our future workforce

Dr Hollie Chandler, Director of Policy, Russell Group

She added that university groups are “trying to protect the quality of our education and our research activities”, but “the scale of the deficits are so large that efficiency measures alone are not going to be able to address them”.

Professor Malcolm Press CBE, Vice-President for England at Universities UK, emphasised that quality education comes at a cost – a cost that the government must be willing to maintain.

Prof Press, who is also Vice-Chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University, said: “In the UK, the average student staff ratio is 14:1; in OECD countries it’s 18:1; in Australia it can drop to 34:1, but half the cost that it takes to teach a student go on amazing wrap around support.”

With demand for graduate employees increasing, university bosses have stressed that more support must be made available soon in order to continue to grow the British economy.

Speaking on this matter, Dr Chandler said: “We know that the UK is going to need 11 million more graduates for our workforce by 2035. 88% of new jobs will be graduate-level roles and the Industrial Strategy high-growth sectors are particularly reliant on graduate skills, so we do need to see sustainable growth in the sector to achieve the graduates needed for our future workforce.”