University funding cuts could particularly harm newer universities

UCU said today that funding cuts to universities in England, a year before students will be forced to pay higher fees, could see the beginning of the end for some departments and subjects.
 
The union warned that large urban post-92 universities, with a strong focus on teaching and widening participation, would generally suffer the most.
 
Overall universities and colleges will see an average recurrent funding cut of 4.1%. However, the newer, or post-92 universities, will generally take a bigger hit because more of their funding comes from the teaching budget, which is being cut more severely than research.
 
The government has already announced that it is axing the great majority of funding for arts and humanities teaching from 2012-13 under the new funding regime. In addition, there will be greater concentration in research funding which is likely to have a greater impact on the newer universities, trying to develop their research profile.
 
In a further blow for universities, capital funding for buildings and infrastructure is being cut by more than half, prompting the union to question if the government had learned lessons from building disasters in further education and schools.
 
UCU 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 market place. 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.
 
'There's a real worry that some universities will not continue to offer excellent courses for the fear that they will not generate enough profit. We risk seeing arts and humanities courses and departments shut down and institutions that focus on widening participation being damaged. Purely financial targets should not be the main driver of our higher education system.
 
'We are very concerned that the government is slashing capital funding by 58%. If universities have already made commitments for improvements, we risk ending up in a similar mess to the ones we have seen recently in our schools and colleges.'
 
The union was responding to the announcement of teaching and research funding for universities and colleges for the academic year 2011-2012 from the Higher Education Funding Council for England.