University in dire straits - again

British universities have been in the news for at least months. They are all targeting financially! And it isn’t difficult to guess why. 

In 2012, universities were allowed to raise tuition fees. And they all did, to the tune of £9000. But that was an excellent excuse for the government then decides they had money enough and cut down investment from that direction. And that worked for a while, but universities have not been allowed to raise the tuition fees to compensate for inflation. And you can get a lot of inflation in 12 years. Especially if it sometimes hits 11% in this crazy country.

Is £9000 really the limit? Not for foreign students! These pay a lot more. So universities are really keen to rake them in. The problem is, though, that we have had 13 years of Conservative governments who liked nothing more than keeping foreigners out. And we have a Labour government now, but not an awful lot has changed. So, surprise surprise, the foreign students aren't quite arriving in the numbers they used to. Double whammy!

One thing that the slightly less glamorous universities suffer from is that the most glamorous universities, such as Oxbridge, have just allowed more students in. And if you have the opportunity to go to such a prestigious university, you take it. But that drops the numbers at the other universities, like ours.

Then an email came around saying that vice chancellor would give all staff an update on the financial situation of the university. That sounded ominous! And on the morning of that day, an email came around to provide a summary, so people were reasonably prepared and could think of questions beforehand.

I went. The rum was absolutely packed! It was the biggest lecture room in the whole university but some people had to stand. You can tell people who were worried.

The VC and the financial head of the university took half an hour to explain the situation in a bit more detail. Then there was opportunity for questions.

So what are they takeaway messages? Situation is bad but not terminal. The university is trying hard to find savings outside cutting jobs. I suppose that means the heating will be switched off more often! You can still apply for promotion, but you don't get the incremental wage increases you normally do get. There is a voluntary redundancy scheme, but they are not planning to have compulsory redundancies.

This is the Nth period of financial trouble I have seen this university get through! So far it always came through. And so far it has always taken me with it. I think that is what will happen this time as well. But in the long run, it is clear that something structural has to change. Will this government make a change that matters in this context? Will they stop trying to keep foreigners out? Not very likely. So far the rhetoric is still all about limiting immigration Will they allow the universities to raise tuition fees? Maybe. But will that mean fewer people will show up? Maybe that too. We'll see. In the end I will still be universities. Not sure if it will be the same number and whether they will have the same size. Time will have to tell! But if anything stands out I'll report back here…