Team Blitz India
LONDON: Educators in the United Kingdom warn that limits to overseas students announced recently, and rising costs due to inflation have put universities at risk financially. They are seeking more funding from the Government.
Irene Tracey, Vice-Chancellor of University of Oxford, feels that higher education is facing a perilous financial future and it cannot go on like this.
Addressing delegates at a joint Higher Education Policy Institute and Advance Higher Education meeting in London earlier, she opined that there is “a worrying financial future for this sector”. She added, “The one jaw-dropping thing I’ve learnt in my role in the first three months is just how perilous the higher education sector is financially.”
Universities in Wales
Meanwhile, Prof Colin Riordan, Vice-Chancellor of Cardiff University, stated that universities in Wales face an unsustainable financial future which could see job losses, cutbacks, and teaching quality suffer.
He said fixed tuition fees, less public money and high inflation had contributed to the situation and that universities could not afford to continually lose money. The institutes of higher education are heavily dependent on fees from international students and curbs on their number and dependents have had an adverse effect.
Only overseas students on courses designated as research programmes are now able to bring dependents with them under measures to curb net migration.
Debate in the House
In March, members of the House of Lords debated the financial pressures on higher education and the impact on local communities.
“The Government’s principal priority for students is to ensure that their best interests are protected…to deliver better value to students and to keep the cost of higher education under control, we have frozen the maximum tuition fees for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 academic years…higher education providers will continue to play an integral role in supporting this government’s aim of levelling up productivity and employment,” said Minister for the School System and Student Finance Baroness Barran while responding on behalf of the Government during the debate.
