British universities have been warning for months about the state of their finances. Their deficit is £1.7 billion (€2 billion) on education.
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Britain's universities, at their meeting today, warned of the risk of the sector declining due to financial problems, exacerbated by restrictions on passport visas for foreign students.
“We are at a turning point in the history of universities. us,” warned Sally Mapstone, president of Universities UK (UUK), which represents the country's 141 universities.
“We can let our internationally recognized and competitive higher education system sink into decline. “Or we can act together with the government,” she added in her speech at the UUK conference in Reading, west of London.
British universities have been warning for months about the state of their finances.< /p>
Their deficit is £1.7bn (€2bn) for education, said Sally Mapstone. Added to this is a £5bn (€5.9bn) shortfall for research.
“Although the exact circumstances of the funding problem vary, we are all feeling the effects of the crisis,” said Sally Mapstone.
“The long-term reduction in public funding has increased the pressure on universities to provide teaching and world-class research with fewer and fewer funds,” he pointed out disapprovingly, calling for “the investment and support” of the government.
Industry officials have asked the government to raise registration fees in line with inflation.< /p>
In 2017, the registration fee increased from £9,000 to £9,250 (€10,970) in England. It has since frozen.
The president of King's College London, Sittij Kapoor, estimated today that this figure should now be between £12,000 and £13,000.
The universities had turned to foreign students who pay much more. However, Rishi Sunak's conservative government, which was in power until July, took action on the visas of these students. From January, these students can no longer bring their relatives to Britain without exception.
As a result, in the first quarter of 2024, there were 30,000 fewer student visa applications than in 2023, according to with the government.
In a video shown at the UUK conference, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson admitted that universities face “complex problems”.
“I can't promise painless or straightforward solutions, but I promise that these issues will be examined with the attention they deserve”, he emphasized.
