‘Over expansion’ of universities is leaving students with ‘heavy debts for little economic benefit’

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‘Over expansion’ of universities is leaving students with ‘heavy debts for little economic benefit’ think tank warns as it calls for ‘radical reform’ of sector

  • Dr Lee Jones and Dr Philip Cunliffe penned the report on universities’ struggles
  • They recommend closing and merging some as well as making entry harder
  • Universities are already facing problems from a feared lack of overseas students

By Dan Sales For Mailonline

Published: | Updated:

Universities’ over expansion has left students loaded with heavy debt for ‘little economic benefit’ and the faculties risking bankruptcy, a think tank has warned.

A report titled ‘Saving Britain’s Universities’ puts forward systematic proposals for radical reform, including closing and merging some of the educational bodies.

They also said a grade cut-off of three C’s could shrink the sector as it would limit the amount of people able to attend.

Universities have been warned they need to think about radical reform by the new report

The report was released by think tank Cieo and was written by Dr Lee Jones, of Queen Mary University, and Dr Philip Cunliffe, of University of Kent.

It said: ‘The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed UK universities into a deep financial crisis, prompting requests for a bailout.

‘There is no doubt that large-scale government aid – far beyond that currently offered – is needed to prevent serious, lasting damage to British higher education and research.

Dr Lee Jones of the Queen Mary University of London

Dr Philip Cunliffe, Senior Lecturer in International Conflict at the University of Kent

The report was released by think tank Cieo and written by Drs Lee Jones and Philip Cunliffe

Record number set to go through clearing – but not from overseas 

Universities face their ‘busiest’ ever clearing period as a record number of students are due to take up places through the system, the head of Ucas has predicted.

With less than a week to go until youngsters receive their A-level results, nearly three in four of the top institutions have vacancies on their undergraduate programmes on the clearing website.

And more than 4,500 courses at the elite Russell Group universities still have spaces. School leavers who have had their gap-year plans disrupted by Covid-19 will be among those who will bypass the main application scheme and search for a course through clearing, the admissions service predicted.

Analysis showed that for applicants living in England, there were 29,163 courses with availability across 327 universities and colleges. Seventeen of the 24 Russell Group universities had vacancies for English residents – a total of 4,509 courses between them – on the Ucas clearing site ahead of results day on Thursday.

Clare Marchant, Ucas’ chief executive, said the ‘fragile’ situation’, where the number of overseas students could fall amid Covid-19, alongside the fact there are fewer 18-year-olds in the population, may play to UK students’ advantage when applying.

‘However, this is also an opportunity for a fundamental rethink of UK HE, which was already in deep trouble well before COVID-19 struck.

‘Successfully restructuring HE requires both frank recognition of past policy failures and the political will to depart radically from the status quo, rather than merely trying to tweak a fundamentally flawed system.

‘The two fundamental drivers of the sector’s many problems – which COVID-19 has merely exposed, rather than causing – are the sector’s over-expansion and marketisation.

‘Although expanding HE participation was well-intended, massification has not yielded the expected benefits for the UK economy or individuals.

‘Massification has largely involved funnelling disadvantaged students into weaker, over-burdened institutions, where they are more likely to incur heavy debts for very little economic benefit.’

The report claims the over-expanded university sector attracts students more likely to drop out and even those that graduate have worse chances of getting professional jobs.

It added that disadvantaged students heading to university had increased from 18 per cent in 2009/10, to 26.4 per cent in 2017/18.

Universities have been plunged into financial trouble during the coronavirus pandemic due to their reliance on foreign students.

Half a million come from abroad every year to study in the UK but travel restrictions and fears of the virus are expected to jeopardise the numbers this year.

Cieo’s report concluded: ‘We cannot emphasise enough that merely downsizing the HE sector while retaining market-style governance will not solve its problems.

‘They will simply persist in a smaller number of institutions. Only a bold restructuring can set universities on an entirely new path.’