EUA's monitoring of the economic crisis has shown widely
divergent trends in public funding for higher education across the
continent and worrying signs that higher education funding in many
countries in eastern and southern Europe is more affected by the
crisis than in many countries in northern and western Europe
(although there are notable exceptions).
The impact of the economic crisis is just one of several
topics related to the future of university funding that is being
discussed during the EUA Funding Forum currently from 11-12 June at
the University of Salzburg in Austria.
HE affected differently
EUA's Public Funding Observatory, monitoring the effect of
the economic crisis on higher education (carried out since 2008),
has shown that while national systems have been affected very
differently across Europe, no national higher education system has
been left completely unaffected. Even those HE systems which have
had no cuts or very minor cuts in public funding are facing a range
of other pressures and challenges (such as increased student
numbers, increased use of co-funding by public authorities and
difficulties attracting additional income sources).
??A number of countries mainly in the south and east of Europe,
some of which already have lower overall public investment levels
(as a % of GDP) in higher education, have made major or substantial
cuts in higher education budgets since 2008. EUA believes therefore
that this poses the risk of creating deep divisions across
Europe.
Hardest hit
Latvian HE is worst affected with 57% budget cut between 2008
and 2010, Lituania suffers a staggering -26% in 2012 while Portugal
HE has to swallow -22% in 2012 compared to the year
before. The Netherlands and Ireland have relative high HE
expenditure but continue to struggle with cuts in the range of
5-10%.
Concerning research funding the EUA mentions the abolition of
the fund for economic structural reinforcement in The
Netherlands.
Risk of 'brain drain'
This trend could also risk provoking a 'brain drain' of
talented researchers from these countries, and could make it harder
for universities in these countries to participate in European
funding programmes, such as the research Framework Programme (FP7),
which work under the principle of co-funding (i.e. the university
must provide funding alongside the European funding for
projects).
EUA's work on university funding has already shown that
European-level funding programmes are becoming increasingly
important income sources for European universities. EUA believes
therefore, that the next generation of European research programmes
should not only take the economic context into account but also the
long-term financial sustainability of Europe's higher education
system and fund activities on a full cost basis.