Universities UK is launching a “national conversation” seeking “bold and serious” solutions to the underfunding of teaching and research.
The review will focus on UK-wide support for research and innovation, and teaching funding in England only, leaving Scotland’s fee-free policy off the table.
The vice-chancellors’ group said that it would work with “governments, political parties, consumer groups, employers, staff, students and the wider public, with the aim of identifying possible long-term approaches to the funding that universities receive for their teaching and research”.
Launching the project, UUK flagged that the £9,250 tuition fee in England is worth only £6,600 in 2012 prices, failing to cover the cost of teaching domestic students, and facing further erosion from high inflation expected over the next two years.
