What is a university? The challenge of the UK’s universities facing financial crises: A tale of two people in one: the Bangor University case
The financial troubles of Hull, Kent and Essex universities are not the only ones in the UK. Bangor University announced in December of last year that it would be closing its chemistry department in order to save money. The university told staff and students that the remaining students wouldn’t be left to their own devices. The downside with that was people left when it was due to close for good in 2022, Thomas says. The people that left were going to different universities. And year after year more academics left for different jobs. The more you got towards the end, it got harder.
The UK’s universities are facing a financial crisis. Higher education and research are being left to fail by the government because they are a private sector industry.
Universities are important places for investing in young people; they are a space, often far away from home, where for a few years, the next generation learns independence and agency. Labour wants universities to play an important part in economic growth because they are necessary for research and innovation. The United Kingdom needs more than market success in order to achieve growth ambitions. The future has to include long-term, stable public investment in universities, too.
“If there isn’t a solution, we’re going to see a lot of these institutions contract, so we are already talking about thousands of jobs lost,” says Suliman.
Hillman remains sceptical that the government would allow an institute to go under. “My view is whatever politicians might have said in the recent past, you can’t really let a large multi-faculty university just fold, because they’re too important to the local region,” he says.
Many feel that universities should not be run as competitive businesses at all. Wheeler said it came down to the question of what is a university. Does a university offer courses of study that are profitable or is there a better way to educate people that benefits society as a whole?
Senior leadership at the institutions is being criticized for how they have handled the economic circumstances. The evolutionary anthropologist was made redundant last month by the University of Kent and has been unhappy with university management for a long time.
For chemistry, the university notes it has tried unsuccessfully to put the department on a more sustainable footing over a number of years, despite its strong reputation and league table position. “We are, however, proposing to continue teaching chemistry where it forms part of other programmes, for example chemical engineering, biochemistry and medicine,” the spokesperson concludes. (The university’s medical degree is offered jointly with the nearby University of York.)
As the student number dwindled, Thomas listed advantages. “The fact that it was so close knit meant that you did get the best out of your degree,” she says. “I speak to people who had 300-plus people in their degree. It didn’t happen that I asked a question to get the lecturer’s attention. With such a close-knit cohort you had that help right there.”
A University of Kent spokesman says they face a number of financial challenges including the fixed tuition fee. The accounts reflected this although we have put into action plans to address it and have adjusted the budget forecast for later in the year. The university is already phasing out some courses on the basis of expected student demand, but will continue to offer a mix of subjects across science, technology, engineering and mathematics disciplines, the spokesperson adds.
Wheeler, who is now at the University of Roehampton, London, says that Kent has wavered for years between cutting the anthropology programme entirely and letting it continue. “Confidence in university management is something that’s been completely lacking both from academic- and professional-services staff at Kent,” he adds.
This week, when students brush their teeth, pack their bags and walk down Cottingham Road to reach the University of Hull’s chemistry building, it will be with more than the usual sense of trepidation that often accompanies the first day of lectures.
“I was just getting excited and getting a plan together of what I wanted to do in my project,” says Frances Longbottom, a second-year PhD student in the department. It is all uncertain at this time.
According to the University and College Union, a group that represents academic staff in higher-education providers in the UK, over 70 of them have announced proposed restructures or separations because of economic circumstances.
“Somebody once said, ‘The way to have a great city is to build a university then wait 200 years,’” says Nick Hillman, who runs the Higher Education Policy Institute, a think tank in Oxford, UK. “Hull is a much better place because it’s got a university than it would be if it hadn’t. In terms of supplying workers to local businesses, in terms of regeneration, in terms of bringing income into the town.”
A single university going under is a serious regional issue, and even if less than 40% are expected to lose money, it could lead to a bigger crisis. “I’m worried about a domino effect,” Hillman says. If a university is to fall over, some lenders will think it is pointless to lend money to the university sector.
Higher-education funding crisis deepens as UK universities take a toll on their student populations: The case of the UK universities in Hull
The pressures of inflation took their toll. “We saw years of plenty at the beginning, followed by gradual years of drift,” says Hillman. “And once inflation hit 10% [in July 2022] then it was more than a drift: it was a really significant cut.”
A cap on student numbers was removed at some universities. Now, institutions can accept as many undergraduates as they like.
Some of the top institutions in the sector have a massive draw to students, particularly those in London and other large metropolitan areas, which caused the middle part of the sector to suffer. Smaller universities in less attractive destinations saw the number of first-year students drop. The number of chemistry students in Hull has fallen from 160 in 2012 to less than 20 in the next few years according to data seen by Nature.
A number of UK universities plan to attract researchers from low- and middle-income countries to address a decline in European students. The number of Indian students increased fivefold between 2017 and 2021, and that of Nigerian students tripled.
The law changed in January, which prevents students from countries with a high number of immigration from bringing dependants with them. The number of visas granted to Indian students fell by 23% and to Nigerian students by almost half between July 2023 and June 2024, compared with the same period the year before.
Source: UK university departments on the brink as higher-education funding crisis deepens
Government subsidies and the shortfall in income: The case of the University of Essex and other universities in the UK, and in the rest of the world
The University of Essex in Colchester told their staff about the potential for a shortfall in income in March. Tom Cameron, a professor of applied ecology there, lists the protective measures the institution has brought in. We stopped promotions and bonus payments. And we put a halt to a lot of external recruitment for certain positions. All of these things show that you and your colleagues have jobs. I view that in a positive light, he says.
In March, Kent announced an expected operating-budget shortfall of £31 million, following a £12 million loss in 2023, and said it had rescheduled its debt repayments, with the next repayment arranged for March 2026.
Other countries have shown that they don’t have to be this way. European governments give billions to higher-education and research. A small charge and heavily subsidized tuition fee are what students pay to cover the expenses of their degree. Government scholarships are also available in many countries. China has the world’s largest tertiary education sector, with more than half of its secondary-school graduatesEnrolling in tertiary education. Even in the United States, public universities receive some direct funding from their state governments as well as charging tuition fees.
