Two stories about HE have made the press this week. The first is the Browne report which proposes tuitions fees starting at £7000 but with no upper limit, it would therefore be no surprise if we see much higher fees, especially from the Russell Group universities.
Then today we see a leaked letter from Universities UK which has been sent to universities warning them to expect cuts of £4.2bn to teaching budgets and £1bn to research budgets a result of the comprehensive spending review.
The result of both these proposals could be an end to the higher education system as we know it. It would not be a surprise if we see a drop in student applications from those who do not wish to saddle themselves with debts at more than double the current level. We could also see some universities going bankrupt due to budget cuts and decreased public funding.
What is most worrying is that this clearly looks like the final step to a privatised university system. If these changes are implemented universities will need to start funding some arts and humanities courses purely from student fees, as funding is to be withdrawn from all but science, engineering, medicine and modern language degrees and with variable fees we are already very close to seeing a private market in HE with only one more step needed to make the system completely funded by tuition fees and private research funding.
UCU and the NUS have organised a joint national demo called "Fund our future:Stop Education Cuts" on 10th November 2010. Details at http://www.demo2010.org/
Then today we see a leaked letter from Universities UK which has been sent to universities warning them to expect cuts of £4.2bn to teaching budgets and £1bn to research budgets a result of the comprehensive spending review.
The result of both these proposals could be an end to the higher education system as we know it. It would not be a surprise if we see a drop in student applications from those who do not wish to saddle themselves with debts at more than double the current level. We could also see some universities going bankrupt due to budget cuts and decreased public funding.
What is most worrying is that this clearly looks like the final step to a privatised university system. If these changes are implemented universities will need to start funding some arts and humanities courses purely from student fees, as funding is to be withdrawn from all but science, engineering, medicine and modern language degrees and with variable fees we are already very close to seeing a private market in HE with only one more step needed to make the system completely funded by tuition fees and private research funding.
UCU and the NUS have organised a joint national demo called "Fund our future:Stop Education Cuts" on 10th November 2010. Details at http://www.demo2010.org/
