Unis are an £11bn asset in crisis - but how do we save them?

AS THE new academic year gets under way universities in Wales are grappling with huge and persistent financial pressure.

- ABBIE WIGHTWICK

Universities Wales, which represents institutions, is calling for an independent review of how they are funded in the face of a £77m-plus deficit and shifting needs.

Universities Wales chairman Professor Elwen Evans KC said the £77m deficit for 2023-24 is expected to remain the same, or be a bit higher, for the 2024-25 academic year when figures are out next month. Despite hundreds of job losses, cuts, and emergency Welsh Government funding in the last academic year, problems remain.

There’s a Groundhog Day list of issues to deal with - the deficit, a drop in higher-paying overseas students, lack of cash from home tuition fees, more job cuts, inflationary pressures, and now fresh threats of industrial action.

Compulsory redundancies are not being ruled out at Swansea University while almost 200 staff at Cardiff University still remain in limbo over their jobs after sweeping cuts announced in February.

According to Universities Wales our universities are worth an estimated £11bn to the economy, with every £1m of public money put in generating £13m of economic impact, but their future is uncertain with current funding models not sustainable.

Fears about how institutions in Wales and across the UK will stay afloat in a changing world is a matter for bosses as they vie for students from home and abroad.

The Universities’ Wales manifesto for May's Welsh Government elections, published on October 15, calls for cross-party support for a funding review and more opportunities for degree apprenticeships. Higher-level apprenticeships could bring in business funding and increase participation at one swoop.

Universities Wales wants an independent review to look at a raft of matters including:

the balance of student, government, and business contribution to university funding;

research and capital funding;

funding of “expensive, strategically important subjects”;