Ben Moreland’s Post

This probably shows how misguided it would be for the Labour government to start tinkering with university tuition fees. The Welsh government agreed an increased tuition fee level for relevant students but it is not stopping the institutions saying they have a cash crisis. Universities are probably quite capable of taking all the money that the taxpayer can fund and spending it while still saying that they need more. Assistant director of Universities Wales, Gwen Williams is quoted as saying, "We absolutely need to look at a future funding model that is more sustainable for the sector". Perhaps it would be better for everyone to say - we need a sector that is sustainable in the context of available funding. A model from the late-1900s based on significant public spending and campus-based, three year degrees for young people seems unlikely to be the answer. With thanks (but obviously some points of disagreement) to Professor Dylan Jones-Evans OBE for the original post. #intled #universities #highereducation #wales #ukhighereducation #ukuniversities #studentexperience #studentrecruitment

There are two stages to going bankrupt, according to a character in the 1926 Ernest Hemingway novel The Sun Also Rises: first gradual, and then sudden. Many UK universities are approaching step two, as Nature reports in a Careers feature. High inflation and frozen student fees have created a perfect financial storm. To add to that, in January, the UK government banned most international students from bringing their dependants into the country. This is further fueling existing perceptions that the nation is becoming less welcoming, resulting in a marked fall in the students who contribute to balancing the books. All of this helps to explain why there is a crisis: the state does not directly pay universities in England, Northern Ireland and Wales to teach students, as happens elsewhere. Instead, universities rely heavily on tuition fees for income, with students essentially their paying customers, as if universities were for-profit businesses. Any government typically would let businesses fail if they don’t make a profit. The 11-week-old Labour government of Prime Minister Keir Starmer doesn’t seem inclined to see universities differently to businesses. It should. UK university departments on the brink as higher-education funding crisis deepens To be clear, not all UK universities are suffering equally. Older, world-renowned ones, such as the 24 members of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities, are comparatively less at risk, because they have enough longevity and reputation to both secure credit and attract students from abroad, who pay higher fees than home students.

An intelligent analysis of the precarious state of UK higher education by The Guardian’s Gaby Hinsliff. It’s a shame she too perpetuates the continual UK media narrative that universities are just for school-leavers, by talking about “teenagers”. 37% of Scottish university students are over 25, and 24% are over 30. She writes “Though, even as Britain argues about whether 35% of teenagers going to college is too much, Australia is debating the case for 55%.” which is plain wrong: Australia is looking to restructure its tertiary education system understanding that post-compulsory education in the modern world is needed for everyone - lifelong learners, wherever they might live. One of the things that is crippling the thinking about HE in the UK is the default assumption that university is a rite of passage for 18yo school leavers, who go and live away from home while studying. That narrow, privileged conception of what university is for is part of the problem. Only the minority of UK university students now fit that description, but opinionators and policy-makers seemingly find it hard to look at the statistics and picture what they imply for a successful future UK HE system - which is much more flexible, hybrid, part-time and professionally integrated than the past model.

Ontario’s universities have been doing more with less for years, a situation exacerbated by repeated tuition freezes and rising inflation. The reliance on international students to backfill chronic provincial underfunding was never a sustainable solution. Now, with these recent policy changes, the cracks in the system are becoming gaping holes. Canada’s strength lies in its ability to attract global talent. If international students are deterred, we’re not just losing tuition dollars - we’re losing future innovators, entrepreneurs, and leaders who enrich our communities and fuel our economy. When talent stops coming, it won’t just be universities that feel the pinch - it will be every sector of Canadian society, from healthcare to technology, that suffers. Thank you, Polly Nash, for the opportunity to contribute to this piece.

Here is an interesting point in this recent announcement: “The legislation will also allow colleges to offer applied master’s degrees.” Glad to see this decision has now been officially confirmed. This is an exciting game changer in the college sector! As someone with a creative practice PhD, I look forward to opportunities to supervise graduate students! Anyone needing advice on how to build graduate courses that offer flexibility and innovation - especially harnessing online education, don’t hesitate to reach out - it’s my favorite topic of all and incidentally was part of my dissertation. #mastersdegree #applied #educationinnovation #ontario #postsecondaryeducation

As one might expect Roger Bootle takes no prisoners in The Telegraph, when he asks, “are we sending too many young people to university? This question has recently acquired some urgency from the fact that a number of universities are apparently in dire financial straits & are demanding government bailouts in order to be able to continue to function… The last thing the Government should now do is bail out failing #universities. In reality, we need fewer of them, & those that are currently failing should be allowed to go bust. Don’t get me wrong. I am not bashing our universities overall. Quite the opposite. We are fortunate to have some of the best universities in the world & they make a major contribution to our national & cultural life & to the economy. The current crisis in #highereducation derives from over-expansion of the sector, linked to the pretence that a #degree certificate automatically improves both the #lifechances of its holder & the productivity of the economy, regardless of academic standards & of what knowledge or #skills are acquired on the course… To fund this money-go-round, British students are charged a fee of £9,250, on which universities apparently cannot make ends meet. They aim to cover the difference by recruiting large numbers of #internationalstudents who pay £20,000 each. Owing to changes in #visa requirements, the number of such foreign students applying to #British universities has recently fallen, thereby accentuating universities’ funding crisis. It is rumoured that the Government’s response to the crisis is going to include allowing universities to charge British students more. This disastrous situation is presided over by a cadre of university administrators on ludicrously inflated salaries, often pursuing neither #academic excellence nor the public interest. The financial cost of these arrangements is bad enough but what is worse is the waste of many young people’s time at a critical phase of their lives on “studying” ridiculous subjects of minimal interest & even less use.” The current crisis in university funding should act as a spur to the new Government to take a step back & think seriously about reform. Just coughing up more money to smooth matters over, which seems to be one of its primary instincts, is not the answer. There are not many areas of policy where introducing structural reforms will save public money, improve labour supply & enhance young people’s lives. This is one of them. There needs to be a fundamental rethink which involves fewer students going to university, an improvement in academic standards at the lower end & a shift towards technical subjects which can both provide useful #skills for individuals & benefit the economy.” Asia Careers Group SDN BHD AGCAS British Council BUILA Department for Business and Trade Department for Education Jisc Office for Students UCAS UKCISA Universities Scotland Universities UK Universities UK International Universities Wales

A controversial piece to follow a rare and minimal increase in UK per student funding It raises probing questions of student value proposition. Student’s voice and their perspective over that of universities and their leaders is gaining ever greater prominence in public perception. As it should And evidence of universities globally being increasingly on the nose and in need of being reimagined grows stronger even on a rare good news day. Time for radical change and to rewrite the model and narrative with the UK having its own Accord moment and opportunity in the coming year. Will the outcome be a better deal for students more than the providers as it has in Australia? And isn’t that a good thing?

Over the last 18 months or so I have watched as US Universities and colleges have downsized, ceased tenure and, in some cases closed. I have been waiting for the type of article that I am sharing below about UK Universities, I realise that this one is a month old but there is also a report in todays Daily Mail saying much the same but I cannot bring myself to share anything from the DM. However, the worries would appear to be real, underfunding and overpaying and reliance on the cash cows that are/were International students seems to be having an huge effect on the UK Higher Education sector. Watch this space? https://lnkd.in/eFnK6Uu7

The first thing to say here is how on earth are UK universities meant to forecast the future when the data on studnet numbers from HESA: Higher Education Statistics Agency is two years out of date! Plus while English universities have lost around £3 billion real income in three years due to inflation, in fact they have gained significantly more than £2.7 billion in increased #internationalstudent #tuition, with the number of international students increasing from 580,000 to 758,000 over the same period, enough we would poset to fill the gap? Plus we disagree with Mark Corver co-founder of dataHE that there is “no solution in sight yet, these values are already within financial planning timelines for universities.” See our article in Wonkhe, “Students costs or assets.” What we know for sure is that Universities UK has got it all wrong by even suggesting the UK should be reducing International #studentrecruitment, a valuable source of #diversity & revenue for UK institutions, not to mention a means of building UK #softpower. Why having lost £3billion already would the body advocating for the sector lobby to loose even more? There is no issue #recruiting more international students with the caveat that all #universities that #recruit overseas, should support their international students transition to successful #careers back in their home countries on completion of their UK #degree. This is only possible if they have access to robust representative Non-EU #graduateoutcomes data. "Almost three quarters of universities in #England will face financial problems next year - despite tuition fees increasing, the BBC has been told. A report published on Friday reveals how financial issues faced by most universities are even worse than previously thought. The Office for Students (OfS) predicts more than a third are likely to have serious cash flow problems. The outlook has worsened for universities because they have recruited fewer UK and international students than predicted. For home students, the OfS says, UCAS figures suggest numbers have increased by around 1.3% this year, compared with the optimistic 5.8% universities had predicted ... International #studentrecruitment has also fallen, with overall visa applications down by about 16% this year, and 20% fewer applications from #India alone. Since January, most #internationalstudents have been banned from bringing family members to live with them in the UK." This adds to the pressure on #immigration which both the Torys and Labour party now in government are commited to reducing. Asia Careers Group SDN BHD - Investing in International Futures AGCAS AIEA - Association of International Education Administrators AUIDF British Council BUILA Department for Business and Trade Department for Education Higher Education Policy Institute Jisc UKCISA Universities Australia Universities Canada Universities Scotland Universities UK Universities UK International Universities Wales