On Christmas Day, my family gave me a lovely new fountain pen (made out of recycled plectrums by this master craftsman since you ask). There was one other thing at the top of my Christmas wish list too, although – unlike the pen – it has only just arrived.
I am referring to the long-awaited report that Universities UK (UUK) commissioned from PwC on the financial sustainability of higher education institutions. It is potentially of critical importance because:
- firms like PwC are well respected in Whitehall and you can bet your bottom dollar that the report will have been shared long ago with civil servants;
- people expect universities to plead poverty and so an independent assessment by a firm like PwC carries more weight that a report from the sector itself ever can (even if the report in question was commissioned and paid for by the sector); and
- 2024 is (almost certainly) an election year, when such reports can be especially influential – the Opposition, in particular, have to rely on well-respected independent sources of information because they operate on a shoestring.
The PwC report has just landed but the response to it has, so far, been muted (though the Times Higher Education and the Financial Times have run useful pieces).
