University teaching cuts signal tough times ahead
By Liz Stephens
Funding for university teachers in England will be cut by £65 million next year, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills announced today.
Revised grant allocations from the funding council (Hefce) will mean job cuts across the industry.
The biggest cuts will be to those institutions with the most students: £2.5 million at the Open University, £1.4 million at Manchester University and £1.2 million at Leeds.
The news comes less than a month after schools secretary, Ed Balls, launched a government white paper and denied that future cuts were inevitable.
It also comes just days after business secretary Lord Mandelson announced places for an extra 10,000 university students in science and technology subjects – but no extra funding for teaching them.
Critics have voiced concerns that the quality of teaching will suffer if teaching staff are cut while student numbers rise.
The cuts do not bode well for the long-awaited governmental review of student finance.
The University and College Union claims that 21 of the institutions which have already confirmed job cuts are breaking the law by failing to carry out legally required equality impact assessments when shedding staff.
It has asked the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to investigate.
Cuts loom over the public sector generally, with some predicting education spending could eventually plummet to levels not seen since Thatcherism.
Business secretary Lord Mandelson is expected to make a speech on the future of higher education early next week.
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