University education in region rocked by £25m cuts

Virtually every university in the country, including all nine in Yorkshire, will see their funding drop for the next academic year.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) announced today that teaching grants nationally would be cut by four per cent while money for research would drop by 0.4 per cent.

These cuts will be followed next year by a massive drop in state support for teaching which will see universities become more reliant on income from fees from students which are set to almost treble.

This year’s cuts have hit newer universities the hardest because they focus more on teaching than research. York St John University was the biggest loser in the region.

Its funding has dropped from £10.9m to £10.3m – a fall of 5.1 per cent. Leeds University has seen the biggest drop in cash terms with £4.5m less funding for teaching and research. Its overall budget has fallen from £135.9m to £131.3m – a drop of 3.3 per cent.

All 20 further education colleges in the region which run higher education courses will also see their money cut in the next academic year.

Overall Yorkshire’s higher education sector will receive £622m in 2011/12 – a 4.2 per cent reduction on the previous year.

Taking into account inflation rates of around 2.4 per cent, just one university in the country, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, will see a real terms rise in its grant.

The new data from HEFCE reveals that all but five of 130 English universities will see a reduction in their grant in cash terms.

HEFCE chief executive, Sir Alan Langlands, said: “Universities that don’t lose out so much are those that benefit from the very modest nature of the cut in research funding, as opposed to the more significant cut in teaching funding.”

The figures show that, in cash terms, the other four institutions to see an increase are the Courtauld Institute of Art, Imperial College London, the London School of Economics and Oxford University.

However, all of these will see their funding cut in real terms. Oxford’s funding in real terms will be cut by one per cent, while Cambridge University’s will be cut by three per cent.

Among the biggest losers are Bishop Grossesteste University College, Lincoln, which will see its funding cut by 13.4 per cent in cash terms, and 15.8 per cent in real terms.

Professor Steve Smith, president of vice-chancellors’ umbrella group Universities UK, said: “The funding allocations announced today are the result of recent cuts of around £1bn to universities’ public funding, before the new tuition charges even begin to come into play.

“Most universities in England will see a reduction in funding for teaching and research.”

University and College Union general secretary Sally Hunt said: “Exceptional universities that concentrate on teaching and widening participation have been told today that they are being left to scrap it out in an untried marketplace.

“In addition, institutions that focus on arts and humanities will be forced to charge higher fees to make up the shortfall when they are given the option to triple the current maximum fee to £9,000 in 2012.”