University cuts of 35% will be worst since the Great Depression

By LAURA CLARK FOR THE DAILY MAIL
Updated:


Students face a major increase in the cost of studying for a degree as universities prepare to be hit with the worst cuts to their budgets since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Undergraduates face being taught in 'crumbling' lecture theatres or at home over the internet, despite having to pay more for a university education.

Universities have been told to prepare for a cut of 35 per cent to their funding over four years – equivalent to cash per student being slashed from £5,441 a year to £3,537.

The E-degrees: University students face the prospect of taking lectures via the internet

The E-degrees: University students face the prospect of taking lectures via the internet

The cuts would represent the biggest loss of resources since the 1930s cutbacks, higher education experts claimed yesterday.

Universities say they would be forced to scrap courses, crowd more students into lecture theatres and neglect facilities such as libraries and computer suites.

Thousands more undergraduates would be required to study at home using internet resources.

Institutions are also likely to look abroad to recruit new students to help compensate for the loss of public funds.

Meanwhile home students face a significant increase in the cost of going to university, to be repaid after graduation.

Fees for 2010/11 are £3,290 a year, up from £3,225.

The cuts warning came in meetings between Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell and university chiefs, according to the Times Higher Education magazine.

Chancellor George Osborne will confirm the scale of cuts for all Whitehall departments in October but Sir Gus has told universities it would be ‘prudent’ to prepare for a 35 per cent cut between 2011 and 2015.

Ex-BP boss Lord Browne will report on the future of student finance in the autumn.

Professor Roger Brown, an expert in higher education policy at Liverpool Hope University, said cuts would lead to ‘increased student-to-staff ratios and greater pressure on physical resources, such as libraries’.

School's out: Chancellor George Osborne is expected to confirm the cuts in October

School's out: Chancellor George Osborne is expected to confirm the cuts in October

The prospect of cuts to facilities budgets spells a ‘nightmare scenario’, he added.

‘You are charging students more – assuming fees will go up after the Browne review – and at the same time they are being taught in crumbling lecture theatres.’

Professor Gareth Williams, a higher education expert at London’s Institute of Education, said: ‘If the numbers quoted are realised, it would be far worse than anything universities have experienced since the 1930s.

‘In terms of expenditure per student, it is far worse than anything in recent memory.’

Students could increasingly be taught via distance learning, studying mainly at home and attending campuses less frequently, he suggested.

‘It probably would be possible to provide the basic training that goes on at most universities at the sort of price that is being talked about.

‘But it would be a very different student experience from what we take for granted. It raises big questions about the nature of a university experience, what a university is for, why people go to university.’

A Cabinet Office spokesman said: ‘The Cabinet Secretary’s advice to everyone in the public sector is that, until we find out exact budgets in the autumn spending review, it would be prudent to prepare for cuts at the higher end of the range.’

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