Legendary British schools face thorny challenges. Almost every British native student who attends will cause the university to lose money.
The UK population accounts for only 1% of the global population, but the university system in the UK has 11 of the top 100 universities in the world, with three universities ranking in the top 10. The healthy development of the university system is particularly important for the future of the UK, the world's sixth largest economy, and also for scientific research of global significance.
This system is facing increasing political risks. In the United States, private universities and many public schools can determine their own tuition fees, while in England and Wales, the government sets tuition caps for all domestic undergraduate students - from Cambridge to Coventry, the tuition caps are the same for each university. Since 2010, although inflation has led to a significant increase in school costs, the upper limit of tuition fees has remained basically unchanged. Northern Ireland has halved tuition fees for domestic students. Scotland does not charge tuition fees at all.
The ultimate result is that American universities continue to raise tuition fees and engage in an "arms race" aimed at top facilities and research, leading to a worsening student debt crisis; Universities in the UK face the opposite problem. They cannot charge enough tuition fees.
In order to fill the funding gap, universities in the UK are finding ways to cut expenses, from research funding, to teacher salaries, and even to dormitories. These universities are also moving more courses to online teaching. Universities are increasingly relying on foreign students because they are able to charge them at market prices. These universities are also reducing their enrollment of local students: the proportion of British teenagers attending universities is currently decreasing, which is the first time in several generations that this phenomenon has occurred.
Simon Marginson, a professor of higher education at the University of Oxford, said: 'This is a turning point.' He said that if the government does not intervene, even top universities in the UK may experience financial deterioration and quality decline. A new report released by the UK House of Lords in September stated that the funding system of UK universities is unsustainable and a crisis is imminent.
According to government regulatory agencies, approximately 30 universities have reported financial losses in the past academic year, and this year this number may double, with about a quarter of universities reporting losses. However, the institution stated that the overall condition of the system remains stable. Last year, about 83 university teachers participated in a strike demanding a pay increase.
The ranking of the UK university system still ranks second in the world, second only to the United States, but according to 13 indicators measured by the UK data company Times Higher Education, nine indicators of UK universities have declined, including their global reputation in research and teaching. The company released its latest university rankings on September 27th.
It won't be possible in another million years
The vast majority of universities in the UK are public universities, funded by the government's annual budget. This means that it is politicians and bureaucrats who determine the tuition standards, not the universities themselves. Since British universities began collecting tuition fees in 1998, the government has raised tuition fees three times, which has sparked strong protests from students.
The issue of university budget cannot be alleviated in the short term. Robert Halfon, the Conservative government minister in charge of higher education led by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, stated in an interview with Times Higher Education that raising tuition fees is "simply impossible, and not in a million years", given the decline in average wages in the UK over the past two years due to high inflation. The opposition Labour Party, which is highly likely to win next year's election, usually talks about reducing tuition fees, rather than raising them.
Haffin declined to be interviewed for this article. A spokesperson for the UK Department of Education said: 'We will continue to maintain the tuition cap unchanged in order to provide better value for students and taxpayers, and control the cost of higher education.' The spokesperson also stated that the financial situation of the higher education sector is generally stable.
David Maguire, Vice President of East Anglia University, said, "In the end, this will result in us not being able to provide sufficient quality education to attract the smartest and most outstanding talents to our university. It is these talents who will contribute to the UK economy based on service and knowledge after graduation." East Anglia University offers creative writing courses, Graduates include Nobel Prize laureate Kazuo Ishiguro and novelist Ian McEwan.
British universities have nurtured many major breakthroughs, from the construction of the theory of evolution and gravitation, the discovery of penicillin, the discovery of DNA structure, to the recently released AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, which were born in the soil of British universities. UK universities are currently researching crucial topics such as cancer therapy, artificial intelligence, and next-generation electric vehicle batteries. According to data from the Higher Education Policy Institute, a British education think tank, more than a quarter of today's world leaders have received education in British universities, second only to the United States.
Since 2012, the annual tuition fees for domestic students in the UK have only been raised once. In 2017, the tuition fees were raised from £ 9000 to £ 9250 per year, equivalent to an increase of 2.8% from $11200 to $11500. According to data from higher education consulting firm DataHE, since 2012, inflation adjusted tuition fees have actually decreased by about one-third. The company estimates that if the increase in tuition fees is consistent with the inflation rate, it should be close to £ 14000.
During the same period, the nominal tuition fees for private non-profit universities in the United States increased by nearly 40%, adjusted for inflation, by nearly 10%, reaching an average of $34041. According to data from the US Department of Education, the average annual tuition fee charged by public universities to students in the state has increased to $9596, with an inflation adjusted increase of 34% and an inflation adjusted increase of 5.4%.
According to data released by the Russell Group in the UK, the deficit of universities within the group was equivalent to nearly £ 2500 per British student in the academic year 2022-2023. It is expected that the deficit will double to £ 5000 per student by 2030. The Russell University Group is equivalent to the Ivy League in the United States, consisting of 24 top research universities in the UK.
Irene Tracy, a neuroscientist and newly appointed vice president of Oxford University, said at a higher education seminar held in March this year, "In my first three months in office, I learned something shocking: how precarious the financial situation of the higher education sector is. Our financial prospects are indeed worrying
Intermediate route
The situation in the UK raises questions about which higher education model works best and who should pay for it: students or taxpayers? A university diploma can enable students to earn higher income in their later lives; Taxpayers must weigh whether to support education or other priorities such as defense spending and healthcare.
Private universities in the United States charge at market prices, and students from low-income families can receive financial assistance. This system has created a world-class higher education system that has greatly benefited the US economy. But soaring tuition fees have made it difficult for some people to afford college, causing the national student debt to swell to $1.6 trillion, and raising questions about whether expensive university education is worth it.
Most universities in mainland Europe and universities in Scotland are at the other extreme, where they are free and funded by the government. This approach is usually very popular among voters, which theoretically means that even the poorest families can afford to attend university. However, due to the fact that universities are paid for by taxpayers, the government sets a cap on the number of students in order to control costs, which limits admission opportunities.
Although European universities have a good reputation, there are almost no top global universities and there are few breakthroughs in scientific research, which is not commensurate with Europe's wealth, history, and development level.
England and Wales, as well as some countries in Asia and other regions, have been striving to find a middle ground. Starting from 2012, the government has reduced public funding for universities, significantly increased tuition fees, and lifted restrictions on enrollment. The number of young people in the UK attending university is much higher than ever before, and those from the poorest families are no exception.
For politicians, this model has two major drawbacks. As tuition fees are determined by the government rather than universities, students and voters blame politicians for the increase in tuition fees, rather than universities.
Secondly, due to the fact that all tuition fees and expenses in the UK are prepaid by the government (students start repaying tuition fees after graduation, depending on the extent to which their income exceeds a specific threshold), the government has found that after the implementation of the new system, the rise in tuition fees and the increase in the number of students have led to government spending suddenly exceeding the acceptable range. In addition, if the borrower fails to meet the income threshold, the government will cancel the loan after several years. The government has stated that approximately half of student loans have been cancelled in this way.
Not only did it cost more public funds, but it also drew criticism from voters due to the rise in tuition fees. This thankless situation prevented politicians from raising the tuition limit any further.
Phil Baty, Chief Global Affairs Officer of Times Higher Education, said: 'In the UK, it feels like the existing model has been broken, but there is no political will or funding to fix it.' The decline in credibility 'will have worrying consequences for future partnerships, investments, and collaborations.'.
The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, stated in an interview that although the introduction of tuition fees is controversial, it has increased opportunities for UK students to enroll and improved the quality of education. He also said that the British government has increased funding to support research spending in the higher education sector. But he added, "I don't deny... even with the student loan system, the tuition fees borne by British students are still very expensive, and they also face other expenditure pressures." He praised the higher education sector for promoting diversification and recruiting more international students.
bunk beds
Setting a cap on tuition fees may not have a significant impact with an annual inflation rate of 2%, but the average price surge of 8% in 2022 may increase by around 7% this year. In this case, the tuition cap is of great importance.
Data from DataHE shows that in the past two years, inflation has swallowed up over £ 3 billion in annual income from British universities. If the inflation level remains relatively high in the coming years, universities will face a larger deficit.
For university managers like Maguire, this situation means cutting costs. Maguire arrived at the University of East Anglia with the task of helping to fill a budget gap of £ 30 million a year. His university has already laid off some administrative and teaching staff, and cut funding in some teaching and research fields, but he refused to disclose specific areas. He said, "Universities, like any enterprise, must do cost management
Due to the widening deficit caused by recruiting domestic students, British universities do not have as much money to fund academic research. Academic research funding usually comes from private sources such as the government, universities themselves, and companies. From a historical perspective, universities have lost money on scientific research - spending more than income earned through patents or derivative enterprises. For example, government data shows that in the 2021-2022 academic year, UK universities spent £ 14.06 billion on research and generated £ 9.5 billion in revenue from research.
University administrators say that although research spending has slightly increased in recent years, if the university's deficits in other fields expand, this growth momentum will be difficult to sustain.
We have encountered issues with the sustainability of research funding, "said Vivienne Stern, CEO of the UK university consortium UniversitiesUK. The entire system cannot make ends meet
The dependence of universities on online teaching has greatly increased, even after the pandemic. Isabelle Cory, 19, studied biology at the University of York. She chose York University because it has an excellent academic reputation and claims to value face-to-face teaching and communication between students and professors. But she stated that in her first year of enrollment, 2022-2023 academic year, five of the six courses she chose were taught online, and students often watched pre recorded lectures and could only occasionally meet with the teacher to discuss the teaching content. This year, half of her courses are still taught online.
She said: "After the COVID-19, I found that I didn't like online learning very much, and I prefer face-to-face teaching. That's why I chose York instead of other universities I applied to. But after coming, I felt I was misled, and the situation in terms of learning time and face-to-face teaching in class was not satisfactory."
A spokesperson for York University said that the school had a high-quality and inclusive program that combined face-to-face and online teaching before the pandemic. The spokesperson also stated that this approach has received high praise from students.
This year, there was a teacher strike in the UK, which led to the suspension of some courses in many schools. In addition, some teachers also resisted grading exams and papers, resulting in tens of thousands of students not graduating on time this summer and no final grades to showcase to future employers.
Tyler Pugh, an American student from Virginia who is pursuing a master's degree in social policy at Oxford University, said that the teacher strike resulted in more than half of his one-year degree not being offered as planned. The ongoing teacher boycott rating campaign has also prevented him from graduating on time. He said, "Although this has had a negative impact on me and other students, I understand the starting point of the professors - they are working hard to make their voices heard
Due to the lack of funds to build new dormitories and facilities, some universities have told students this year that they may have to stay in hotels or use bunks to make do with accommodation issues. A recent study conducted by PwC and the UK student online forum StudentCrowd showed that there are only 680000 dormitories specifically built for college students in the UK, with up to 1.4 million students needing accommodation. Glasgow University stated this summer that it will not provide on campus accommodation for students residing within an hour's drive.
In recent years, the pursuit of income by British universities has led to a surge in the number of foreign students they recruit. The tuition fees of foreign students have also skyrocketed. The average tuition fee for foreign students at Russell Group universities has risen from £ 18000 in 2017 to £ 23750- faster than the growth rate of tuition fees at private universities in the United States.
This has prompted British universities to prioritize the admission of foreign students over domestic students.
In recent years, the number of domestic and foreign students admitted by various universities has increased significantly. However, the growth of domestic students has now stagnated, while the number of foreign students continues to grow rapidly. According to government data, the proportion of foreign students among undergraduate students at Russell Group universities has increased from 16% five years ago to 25.6%.
The only way to fill the gap is to adjust the composition of the student population, so that international students can charge more tuition fees than domestic students, "said Colin Riordan, Vice President of Cardiff University, a member of the Russell Group. The proportion must be changed, that's all
This situation has raised concerns that British teenagers will gradually be excluded from top universities in their own country. In 2022, the enrollment quota of top universities in the UK for domestic students has decreased by 13%.
Last year, the proportion of British teenagers admitted to first choice universities dropped to its lowest level since 2011, which may affect the overall attitude of teenagers towards going to university. Government data shows that for the first time, the proportion of 18 year old students in the UK attending university has decreased for the second consecutive year.
To avoid a further decline in the proportion of British teenagers attending universities, British universities must create 45000 new enrollment opportunities for domestic students by 2030 in order to keep up with population growth - but given that recruiting domestic students would cost universities money, it is unlikely that British universities will do so.
Colin Bailey, the president of Queen Mary University in London, said, "How can we afford so many students? Currently, the education system is unable to accommodate these 45000 new students." Queen Mary University mainly admits students from low-income groups.
In most top private universities in the United States, overseas students generally account for less than a quarter of the total number of students, but in Oxford and Cambridge, the proportion of overseas students exceeds one-third. In other top universities such as Imperial College, University College London, and King's College, the proportion of overseas students exceeds half. Overseas students account for three-quarters of the dozens of graduate programs.