After giving evidence to the House of Commons Education Committee, the Russell Group and Universities UK have highlighted the financial challenges facing the UK’s higher education sector.
University leaders have this week highlighted the significant and deep-rooted financial challenges facing the sector, and the impact this is likely to have on the government’s growth and opportunity agendas.
At evidence sessions on higher education and funding at the Education Selection Committee, the Russell Group and Universities UK reiterated joint calls for a long-term, sustainable funding settlement for the higher education sector.
Speaking to the Committee on Tuesday 8 April, leaders from both sector groups emphasised the need for policy action to safeguard the resilience and quality of the sector in the long term – to protect the student experience and allow universities to continue their valuable contributions to the UK economy and global reputation.
Commenting on the financial challenges currently being faced, Dr Hollie Chandler, Director of Policy for the Russell Group said: “The financial pressures are such that action does need to be taken to ensure the future of our universities. There is a lot of work under way to try to improve efficiencies, but our concern is that only goes so far.
“We’re trying to protect the quality of our education and our research activities. The scale of the deficits we’re facing are so large that efficiency measures alone are not going to be able to address them”.
In his remarks, Professor Malcolm Press CBE, Vice-President for England at Universities UK and Vice-Chancellor of Manchester Metropolitan University, highlighted the global excellence of UK universities, and the broader support package students receive in the UK:
“We have to recognise that we do have a high-quality system which carries cost. So, 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 covering everything from IT, virtual learning environments, libraries, mental health support, careers employability, catering, student unions, and gyms”.
In order to counter the challenges currently faced across the HE sector and put universities in a position to best support the government’s missions, Universities UK and the Russell Group have repeated the need for ministers to work with the sector to create long-term stability, urging the government to:
- Continue to raise the undergraduate tuition fee cap in line with inflation on an ongoing basis, to prevent further deterioration of the real-terms value of the fee
- Increase funding through the Strategic Priorities Grant to further address the funding deficits in teaching, recognising the benefits this brings to economic growth and individual opportunity
- Address the growing deficits in university research, in particular sustaining and growing vital quality-related research (QR) funding, which has seen real-terms decline of 16% in the past decade
- Recognise the importance of global talent and the cultural and economic benefits that international students and researchers bring, with a stable, affordable and welcoming immigration policy for students and staff
- Boost UK R&D-intensity and support innovation-led growth, including by increasing the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) that supports university-business collaboration and the creation of high-growth spinouts
Speaking in support of investment in quality-related research (QR), Professor Press said it was important to direct funds to such projects as well as more specific activities with clear impact pathways:
“At the end of the day, the purpose of the research is to grow prosperity and improve people’s lives.
“Blue skies research often delivers impact a long way down the line so we need to balance investment in that with investment in what might be more immediate translatable activity with shorter term benefits.”
Dr Chandler also underlined the importance of these activities to the government’s wider growth ambitions and the future UK workforce:
“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”.
During the Committee, Professor Press highlighted the ongoing work of the sector over the last decade to become more efficient and stabilise finances in the face of significant funding pressures.
UUK has launched a sector transformation and efficiency taskforce to explore how universities can now collaborate to unlock further savings and deliver even better value for money to students and taxpayers. The first report from this Taskforce will be released shortly, outlining a series of actions and opportunities to help preserve our world-leading institutions. Alongside this, government has a critical role in ensuring they are properly funded now and over the long-term.
