A round-up of gloomy reading material I have been taking in.
UK universities fear huge budget holes as Chinese students stay home has worrying figures about the dependence of UK universities on students from China in particular. Note the discussion about Aberdeen University towards the end of the article. had hoped to earn £50m from overseas students this year, 20% of its overall income, but that “is now likely to fall substantially, because of the restrictions and uncertainty created by coronavirus”
How can universities climb out of the coming financial abyss? considers prospects of universities closing or merging, or obtaining bridging loans from banks or government, possibly with strings attached (such as closure of certain courses seen as not very valuable). It is suggested that some prospective UK students may decide to defer going to university, although for the ones that do, “those students may have an edge in the graduate jobs in three or four years’ time, though it’s not clear how many students, if any, will be making that wholly rational calculation.”
Universities UK: state bailout required to save institutions. Some comments added by readers made the point that senior administrative salaries ought to be cut, in the context of requesting a government bailout.
Coronavirus: universities face a harsh lesson discusses universities in the UK, USA, and Australia, with emphasis on the likely loss of income from overseas students, especially from China. The ‘overexposure to the Chinese market’ story seems to be widespread.
What will higher education look like after coronavirus?
The Office for Students will need to design and put in place a multi-billion pound stabilisation fund to prevent the collapse of scores of vulnerable English universities. Access to this fund should be subject to strict non-negotiable conditions, including the phased closure of poor-quality and low-value courses under teach-out arrangements to ensure that students can complete their studies. (This seems easy to say; harder to say what’s meant by a poor-quality and low-value course. I don’t think some smirking reference to Gender Studies does the job.) More optimistic about the long-term; argues that demand for higher education will increase in developing countries. The article has an unfortunate digression into an argument that universities that attract plenty of students, should continue to expand at the expense of ones that don’t.
UK universities fear huge budget holes as Chinese students stay home has worrying figures about the dependence of UK universities on students from China in particular. Note the discussion about Aberdeen University towards the end of the article. had hoped to earn £50m from overseas students this year, 20% of its overall income, but that “is now likely to fall substantially, because of the restrictions and uncertainty created by coronavirus”
How can universities climb out of the coming financial abyss? considers prospects of universities closing or merging, or obtaining bridging loans from banks or government, possibly with strings attached (such as closure of certain courses seen as not very valuable). It is suggested that some prospective UK students may decide to defer going to university, although for the ones that do, “those students may have an edge in the graduate jobs in three or four years’ time, though it’s not clear how many students, if any, will be making that wholly rational calculation.”
Universities UK: state bailout required to save institutions. Some comments added by readers made the point that senior administrative salaries ought to be cut, in the context of requesting a government bailout.
Coronavirus: universities face a harsh lesson discusses universities in the UK, USA, and Australia, with emphasis on the likely loss of income from overseas students, especially from China. The ‘overexposure to the Chinese market’ story seems to be widespread.
What will higher education look like after coronavirus?
The Office for Students will need to design and put in place a multi-billion pound stabilisation fund to prevent the collapse of scores of vulnerable English universities. Access to this fund should be subject to strict non-negotiable conditions, including the phased closure of poor-quality and low-value courses under teach-out arrangements to ensure that students can complete their studies. (This seems easy to say; harder to say what’s meant by a poor-quality and low-value course. I don’t think some smirking reference to Gender Studies does the job.) More optimistic about the long-term; argues that demand for higher education will increase in developing countries. The article has an unfortunate digression into an argument that universities that attract plenty of students, should continue to expand at the expense of ones that don’t.
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