Government Considering ‘All Options’ Amid Universities’ in ’Financial Peril’: Minister

The universities minister has acknowledged the “financial peril” faced by UK higher education (HE) sector and said that Downing Street is considering “all options” to mitigate risks.
Baroness Jacqui Smith said she wants to ensure that “robust plans” are in place to alleviate the financial strain on HE providers.
Speaking at the annual conference of Universities UK (UUK), which represents 141 institutions, Smith also noted that HE providers are responsible to plan their finances “prudently.”
“You cannot have independence and then also expect there to be a wholly state-funded system, or for example to be in the public sector which would be a very different place for HE to be,” she told the conference.
Smith acknowledged the financial strain faced by universities across the country, but reminded the conference that HE providers are “rightly independent from government.”
The minister will work with the Office for Students (OfS), the HE regulator, “to understand the sector’s changing financial landscape.”
“And we’re determined in government that the higher education funding system should deliver for our economy, for universities and for students, and we are carefully considering all options to deliver a more robust higher education sector,” Smith said.
Among factors leading to the universities’ financial struggles are inflationary pressures and the decline in student applications.
The OfS has found “apparent” gaps in domestic and international student applications, which affects the universities’ projected income from student fees
In a bid to provide better support for HE providers, the government announced last week that the OfS will focus on regulating the quality of education and protecting how public money is spent.
If the trend continues, the regulator warned, universities will have to drop some of its research and courses. Some universities will have to leave the higher education market altogether, causing disruption for students and the sector as a whole.
Capping university tuition fees is part of the EDSK’s wider recommendations to create parity between all streams of adult education, both in-class and in the workplace, and both academic and practical.