In een opiniestuk in the Guardian smeken de voorzitters
van de Russell Group, de federatie van de topinstellingen in de UK,
om een herijking van het beleid van premier Gordon Brown. "We
implore ministers to think again about budget cuts that can only
devastate a sector vital to our national prosperity." Zij
benadrukken het scherpe contrast van het Labour-beleid met dat van
president Obama, kanselier Merkel en -extra pijnlijk in Britse
discussies- met president Sarkozy.
Zij geven daarbij aan welke impact de roem en aantrekkelijkheid
van hoogwaardig hoger onderwijs op de welvaart van de Britten
heeft. "The total contribution of higher education to the economy
in 2007/8 was 33.4bn, equivalent to 2.3% of GDP. Our gross output
exceeds that of either the pharmaceutical or the aerospace
industry."
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It has taken more than 800 years to create one of the world's
greatest education systems and it looks like it will take just six
months to bring it to its knees. Britain's higher education system
is superb second only to the US, with 18 of our universities
in the world's top 100 and recognised across the globe as a gold
standard.
But our gold standard system could be replaced with one of
silver, bronze or worse, under swingeing cuts to the funding of
higher education and science swingeing cuts to the funding of
higher education and science] recently announced by the government.
Exactly how much will be slashed and where the axe will fall is
unclear, although it has been put at up to 2.5bn.
Such huge cuts in university budgets would have a devastating
effect not only on students and staff, but also on Britain's
international competitiveness devastating effect not only on
students and staff, but also on Britains international
competitiveness, economy and ability to recover from recession.
Research-intensive universities have been given some
consolation; we certainly welcome the relative protection for
research announced in December relative protection for research
announced in December and the pronouncement that the needs of
world-class institutions must be prioritised. But we are deeply
concerned that cuts of this magnitude in overall funding will erode
the sustainability of our research and affect even the most
outstanding universities.
When Gordon Brown was asked if there was still money to spend on
Labour priorities despite the public-sector deficit, he replied:
"Of course there is." Perhaps the PM should consider what his
international counterparts regard as priorities. Nicolas Sarkozy
has just announced an investment of 11bn in higher education in
France stating he wants "the best universities in the world".
Germany pumped a total of 18bn into promoting world-class research
alongside university education, while Barack Obama ploughed an
additional $21bn into federal science.
Universities are not immune from this recession. But there seems
to be a greater focus on cutting higher education funding than
almost anything else. The health service, police and schools are
all currently "protected", presumably due to their perceived
importance at the ballot box. Not so, it seems, Higher
Education.
Some 600m of cuts to HE were identified in the pre-budget
report, on top of 180m 'efficiency savings' announced by the Higher
Education Funding Council for England over 2009 and 2010. In
December the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills
announced a further cut of 135m for 2010/11. The Institute for
Fiscal Studies warns that additional cuts of 12.3% over 2011 and
2012 are needed if the government is to achieve its target of
halving the national debt by 2013. This would mean another 1.6bn of
cuts for the science and higher education budgets, bringing the
grand total to 2.5bn equivalent to a third of the current annual
spend on higher education.
Conservative policy is unclear, but the party has indicated an
intention to reduce the national debt more rapidly, which raises
the spectre of even harder, faster and deeper cuts.
It is a mystery why we are being subjected to this. Students
leave university equipped with skills that are an essential part of
a successful knowledge economy. The UK is the world's second-most
popular destination for international students, generating 2.9bn
annually for universities, as well as off-campus expenditure
estimated at 2.3bn.
With just 1% of the global population, we produce 7.9% of the
world's research publications and 12% of all citations. The total
contribution of higher education to the economy in 2007/8 was
33.4bn equivalent to 2.3% of GDP. Our gross output exceeds that of
either the pharmaceutical or the aerospace industry. Sadly, the UK
can no longer claim to be world-leading in many fields of
endeavour. What a great shame it would be to undermine one of the
few spheres, namely our universities, in which we do actually still
excel.
Some expect Lord Browne's review of higher education funding to
solve the entire problem. This review was supposed to happen
against a background of stable government funding. Browne's mission
has become even more challenging and urgent against the ?background
of the current proposed cuts. He needs to produce a rigorous
assessment of how much each beneficiary of higher education the
graduate, employer and society as a whole should contribute to the
costs of this vital service to the nation.
Our politicians must take a responsible approach to the funding
of higher education and recognise that it is one of the jewels in
the country's crown, worthy of protection because of the
extraordinary value that it brings to our society, international
competitiveness and economy. We call on the government to state
clearly that higher education will not be cut further and to
seriously consider reversing cuts already proposed.
Steve Smith, the president of Universities UK, has warned that
institutions face having to close hundreds of courses, with fewer
academic staff and bigger classes. Reports suggest that as many as
30 universities may not survive in their current form if even
minimal funding cuts are introduced.
We would go further than Smith's bleak assessment. We live in a
world where ideas, innovation and entrepreneurialism are key to
prosperity and wellbeing. Our universities are critical to
supporting this agenda for the next 800 years. This is a defining
moment. If politicians don't act now, they will be faced with
meltdown in a sector that is vital to our national prosperity. They
have been warned.