Education Committee launches inquiry into financial viability of universities

The Education Committee has opened an inquiry into the precarious fiscal situation of the UK’s higher education institutions.

Following the release of a troubling report by the Office for Students, outlining the ill health of the sector’s finances and a growing inability to depend on income from international students (as a result of recent changes to immigration rules), the Education Committee intends to “look under the bonnet at what is going on” with British universities.

Chair of the Education Committee, Helen Hayes MP, has said that the inquiry understands the triangulation of factors crippling the monetary state of higher education institutions

The beginning of an official Parliamentary investigation into this “financial crisis” comes as little surprise to many.

Tertiary education is facing a myriad of challenges, including the strained supply of international students, rising costs, suffocating competition law, and other government policy decisions. More than two-fifths of educational institutions are expected to be in deficit this year, as many universities are making cuts in an attempt to balance the books.

This has led to significant downsizing across the sector, with several campuses being more sparsely staffed. Over 750 jobs are set to be lost across the universities of Durham, Kent, East Anglia, and Cardiff (although the latter has somewhat backpedalled), 350 at the University of Edinburgh, and 400 at the universities of Sheffield and Lancaster.

Some of the main topics of investigation include queries relating to the nature of institutional insolvency

Chair of the Education Committee, Helen Hayes MP, has said that the inquiry understands the triangulation of factors crippling the monetary state of higher education institutions, dubbing it a “perfect storm”. She has suggested that the investigation will focus on what measures can be taken to ensure long-term sustainability for the sector.

According to the Parliamentary webpage outlining the new inquiry, some of the main topics of investigation include queries relating to the nature of institutional insolvency, existing safeguards against this, the consequences of insolvencies for local and national economies, and measures that can be taken to prevent or minimise these impacts.