Are UK Universities going bust?
Following a Channel 4 interview, minister for higher education, Baroness Jacqui Smith, has not ruled out the forced closure of UK universities due to a funding crisis.
Record numbers of young people are getting their first-choice universities, and more disadvantaged students are getting places this year. This is excellent in terms of social mobility and increasing equality within education.
However, these record high numbers highlight something more economically sinister — the funding crisis in the higher education sector.
Universities across the UK are at risk of going ‘bust’, with institutions crumbling under the current economy. No university is entirely safe from the funding crisis, with highly rated Russel group establishments, such as Cardiff University, facing massive deficits.
Their struggle can be seen through ‘plans to scrap its ancient languages degrees entirely.’
Similar cases can be found for Goldsmiths University of London, University of York, Oxford Brookes, and multiple other well-known institutions. This has forced some university’s to talk about merging.
