Greater collaboration between universities needed to tackle financial woes, new report reveals

Universities UK (UUK) has published a new report insisting on a myriad of different cooperative measures, intended to aid the economic survival of Britain’s higher education institutions. 

The publication, entitled ‘Towards a new era of collaboration’, provides several policy suggestions to address the academic sector’s dire financial situation. 

Sir Nigel Carrington, who led UUK’s review, commented in the foreword that although universities are “integral to the prosperity of their local communities, regions, [and] the UK”, they are “under severe financial pressure” as a result of rising costs and sharply falling income streams. He urged the adoption of mutually beneficial joint efforts to address the ongoing funding crisis. 

Of the policies the report encouraged, the most notable is the promotion of merging or dividing courses between institutions within a similar geographic region

Of the policies the UUK report encouraged, the most notable is the promotion of merging or dividing courses between institutions within a similar geographic region.  

Some merged courses already exist in the UK, such as the joint teaching of medicine at the universities of Hull and York. Carrington said that the “divvying up” of courses between institutions would prevent ‘cold spots’.

The report also indicated that many universities must pursue full mergers, although it also recognised that satisfying this appetite is currently difficult due to competition law. 

Other policies outlined in the report included centralising services, such as data management and procurement, to reduce infrastructure and operation costs; leveraging the purchasing power of the sector through a consortium to collectively reduce outlays; and encouraging the government to restructure the regulatory environment, aiming to create a system that proficiently aligns the academic sector with policy and funding. 

However, these policies are subject to a range of barriers, including difficulties in opening dialogues between institutions seeking inter-university partnerships, as well as a lack of “specific guidance for higher education institutions“. 

In the context of the sector’s poor fiscal forecast, UUK’s report provides cooperative policy ideas that may prove essential for their survival. With more than four in 10 UK universities expected to be in a financial deficit by this summer, urgent collective safeguarding action has been promoted as the solution by experts.