27 May 2010
New Government must not look for excuses as it cuts investment in universities
Responding to comments made by the Business Secretary, Vince Cable, in today’s Daily Telegraph, Pam Tatlow, Chief Executive of the university think-tank million+, has warned Ministers against making easy excuses for a failure to invest in universities and students. Ms Tatlow said: “It is much too easy to target Vice-Chancellors’ pay and use this as an excuse to call for UK universities to do more for less. Considering the funding that they receive from the public purse, many UK universities are economically efficient and highly productive in terms of the numbers of graduates they educate and the research that they provide to business, government and the public sector. They have a substantial and beneficial impact on the national as well as their local economies.
“The Government cannot escape from the fact that the UK’s competitor countries are investing in universities and research as part of their response to the global downturn. This is in spite of their national deficits and as part of a strategy to ensure that their economies are not over-reliant on financial services in the future.
“A degree from a UK university remains highly valued, universities make a net contribution to the UK’s foreign exchange earnings and graduates more than repay the contribution which the state makes to their higher education through their own contributions and in higher tax and national insurance payments.
“If the new BIS team really means to do business on behalf of the UK’s universities at home and throughout the world, a very different message will need to be conveyed and the BIS and Treasury teams need a much more thoughtful analysis about the returns achieved from investment in universities and students.”
Ends
Notes to Editors
1. million+ is a leading university think-tank, working to solve the complex problems in higher education www.millionplus.ac.uk
2. For more information, comment or interviews from million+ please contact Victoria Mills, Public Affairs Officer, on: 020 7717 1659 or 07900 277819