UK UNIVERSITIES are going to have their government funding cut by 5%. As this article from the Guardian reports,
"Universities across the country are preparing to axe thousands of teaching jobs, close campuses and ditch courses to cope with government funding cuts, the Guardian has learned.
Other plans include using post-graduates rather than professors for teaching and the delay of major building projects.
The cuts are being put in place to cope with the announcement last week by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) that £449m – equivalent to more than a 5% reduction nationally – would be stripped out of university budgets.
There are 2 issues to look at here:
1) What will be the economic effects of the cut in funding?
2) How will this affect Bellerbys' students (and teachers!)?
As you probably know, university education is usually said to create a large number of social benefits: private benefits to the students who attend, and many external benefits to wider society - more productive workers, higher earners who pay more tax, improved research and development, etc.. Therefore such a cut in funding will probably reduce these benefits.
For example, the newpaper states that, "Teesside University is scrapping £2m worth of scholarships and bursaries that would have helped poorer students". More generally, "student/lecturer ratios are expected to rise, with more institutions using postgraduates and short term staff filling in for professors made redundant".
This all comes at a time when university places are in high demand. Many young adults who would normally want to work are applying to university, being unable to find jobs in the current economic climate. Therefore, UCAS is going to announce
record numbers of applications for places this autumn. It is expected that as many as 300,000 applicants will be turned away.
By now you may be feeling worried. Don't panic though, this might not be as bad for you as it seems.
Firstly, somewhere between 90 and 150 thousand students didn't get a place last year either. Additionally, due to the problems with getting work described above, many of the applicants this year might not be very good students anyway.
True, this will mean that, according to university principals, "higher exam pass marks will be required to win a place at university". As I always say, you will have to work hard to go to one of my country's fine universities.
However, it is agreed that these cuts mean that universities "expect to become even more reliant on income from higher, overseas student fees", that is YOU!
When universities look at applications, they notice if the student is British or from overseas. I would not be surprised if students from abroad are given better offers in the future as universities look to them to provide more funds.
That could mean more opportunties for you, and more work for me, as more overseas students decide to come to Bellerbys and UK universities.
How do I feel about this? Well, to be honest, part of me is sad, as much as I like working with you all.
I come from a working class family and was the first member of my family to ever to go to university. It would be a shame if other people from backgrounds similar to mine do not get the chance of a university education.
The government claims that such cuts are necessary in order to save money in the terrible economic situation caused by the credit crunch. However, as the article notes, in the USA "President Obama this week proposed a 31% increase in education spending for next year in order to combat unemployment and develop skills".
Somehow I feel that getting a place in uni is unfair cuz at times of recession, govts try to cut spending which include the funding for universities, meaning that lesser space available hence more difficult to get in. And at boom times, vice versa..
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be complaining if the current economic situation was opposite..