[News] Universities on the brink?

[Not Andy Naylor]

https://inews.co.uk/news/education/university-bankruptcy-reliant-on-loans/

The i is suggesting that three British universities are on the brink of bankruptcy including "two on the south coast". I assume neither is one of the two venerable institutions based in Brighton, but maybe NSC has heard differently? I wouldn't like to think that Sussex is going under now that the Albion aren't renting the sports pavilion any longer ...

 

[Beanstalk]

https://inews.co.uk/news/education/university-bankruptcy-reliant-on-loans/

The i is suggesting that three British universities are on the brink of bankruptcy including "two on the south coast". I assume neither is one of the two venerable institutions based in Brighton, but maybe NSC has heard differently? I wouldn't like to think that Sussex is going under now that the Albion aren't renting the sports pavilion any longer ...

I think Sussex are fine as they are about to invest £550million in rebuilding half of the campus. The article implies that they are "lower-tariff" universities, so it pretty much discounts either institution in Brighton.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

I doubt it's Sussex. I went there with Miss W the other week for their open day and they are investing millions in student accomodation and have invested millions in their business school. It would be a very foolish financial officer to invest that kind of money if the Uni was struggling.

 

[Moshe Gariani]

Very close to home for those at University of Brighton (must be quite a few on here...?). Unlikely to be one of the two universities mentioned in the report, as UoB is neither small nor in an unappealing location, but message from VC Debra Humphries last week (extracts below) is clear about UoB facing pretty severe financial challenges.

The references in the article to selling off real estate and closing down unpopular/unprofitable courses are both likely to be reality for UoB. Hastings has already gone and Eastbourne must come under severe threat unless current trends reverse. Debra described herself as a "consolidator" in her introductory announcement and it seems certain she will be living up to that tag during the next year or so...

"Year-on-year we have become increasingly dependent on clearing to achieve our student numbers and, despite tremendous efforts by colleagues from across the University, we fell short of target this year by over 600 undergraduate students. The financial implications of this are very real and, given that approximately 70% of our income comes from student fees, it exposes us to a greater degree of financial risk. This is at a time when, in common with the entire sector, we face considerable uncertainty around the Post-18 funding review which could result in significantly reduced student fees, an increase in pension costs, Brexit negotiations and the position of our regulator, the Office for Student (OfS), in regard to its promotion of competition between institutions.

There is no doubt that this year represents a pivotal moment for our University. The fiercely competitive environment in which we operate, our attractiveness relative to our competitor universities, and continuing demographic changes affecting the number of 18 year-old applicants means that I believe it prudent to develop plans based on a more realistic expectation of our annual student intake and to acknowledge that this is likely to become the norm for the next few years.

With this in mind, I have established the Securing our Future Project Board, which will report directly to University Executive Board (UEB). The Board is led by the Registrar & Secretary and the membership includes the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, the Heads of the schools of Education and Health Science, the Director of People, the Director of Finance and an Associate Pro-Vice–Chancellor for Research & Enterprise. Other senior colleagues from Finance, Planning & Performance and Marketing & Communications complete the membership of the Project Board. The Board of Governors is also fully appraised and supportive of this work.

This Board is tasked with two phases of work. The first is to respond to the immediate shortfall in income of approximately £6.5m for 2018-19 as a result of our under-recruitment. I can confirm that some of this can be met by us reducing the contingency funds that had been set aside in the 2018-19 budget. The remainder will be met with adjustments to budget allocations for those schools who are most affected by under-recruitment, and discussions with these schools are already taking place. These savings combined with a reprioritising and re-phasing of our investment plans will ensure that the funding gap for 2018-19 will largely be covered.

The second phase of work undertaken by Securing our Future will be to develop proposals to address a recurrent projected shortfall of approximately £20m by 2020-21. In the light of this, the Project Board is currently working with heads of school and their teams to devise and present a schedule of proposals for reshaping our course portfolio in advance of the 2019-20 academic year. It is also important to know that the Project Board has been tasked with identifying opportunities for potential growth in our recruitment, innovation and change in our professional services and improvements across all aspects of our delivery."

 

[Moshe Gariani]

The article implies that they are "lower-tariff" universities, so it pretty much discounts either institution in Brighton.

I'd love to disagree but sadly UoB, with a few notable exceptions, is very much "lower tariff" in these modern times. "No tariff" would be closer to the truth for some courses scrambling to fill places this September...

 

[dazzer6666]

Very close to home for those at University of Brighton (must be quite a few on here...?). Unlikely to be one of the two universities mentioned in the report, as UoB is neither small nor in an unappealing location, but message from VC Debra Humphries last week (extracts below) is clear about UoB facing pretty severe financial challenges.

The references in the article to selling off real estate and closing down unpopular/unprofitable courses are both likely to be reality for UoB. Hastings has already gone and Eastbourne must come under severe threat unless current trends reverse. Debra described herself as a "consolidator" in her introductory announcement and it seems certain she will be living up to that tag during the next year or so...

"Year-on-year we have become increasingly dependent on clearing to achieve our student numbers and, despite tremendous efforts by colleagues from across the University, we fell short of target this year by over 600 undergraduate students. The financial implications of this are very real and, given that approximately 70% of our income comes from student fees, it exposes us to a greater degree of financial risk. This is at a time when, in common with the entire sector, we face considerable uncertainty around the Post-18 funding review which could result in significantly reduced student fees, an increase in pension costs, Brexit negotiations and the position of our regulator, the Office for Student (OfS), in regard to its promotion of competition between institutions.

There is no doubt that this year represents a pivotal moment for our University. The fiercely competitive environment in which we operate, our attractiveness relative to our competitor universities, and continuing demographic changes affecting the number of 18 year-old applicants means that I believe it prudent to develop plans based on a more realistic expectation of our annual student intake and to acknowledge that this is likely to become the norm for the next few years.

With this in mind, I have established the Securing our Future Project Board, which will report directly to University Executive Board (UEB). The Board is led by the Registrar & Secretary and the membership includes the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, the Heads of the schools of Education and Health Science, the Director of People, the Director of Finance and an Associate Pro-Vice–Chancellor for Research & Enterprise. Other senior colleagues from Finance, Planning & Performance and Marketing & Communications complete the membership of the Project Board. The Board of Governors is also fully appraised and supportive of this work.

This Board is tasked with two phases of work. The first is to respond to the immediate shortfall in income of approximately £6.5m for 2018-19 as a result of our under-recruitment. I can confirm that some of this can be met by us reducing the contingency funds that had been set aside in the 2018-19 budget. The remainder will be met with adjustments to budget allocations for those schools who are most affected by under-recruitment, and discussions with these schools are already taking place. These savings combined with a reprioritising and re-phasing of our investment plans will ensure that the funding gap for 2018-19 will largely be covered.

The second phase of work undertaken by Securing our Future will be to develop proposals to address a recurrent projected shortfall of approximately £20m by 2020-21. In the light of this, the Project Board is currently working with heads of school and their teams to devise and present a schedule of proposals for reshaping our course portfolio in advance of the 2019-20 academic year. It is also important to know that the Project Board has been tasked with identifying opportunities for potential growth in our recruitment, innovation and change in our professional services and improvements across all aspects of our delivery."

Thanks for that....interesting (junior is at UoB Eastbourne campus)

Too many kids were pushed towards Uni education IMO (particularly during the Blair years), presumably led to the Unis having to expand and invest to cope with the numbers.

 

[WhingForPresident]

I think Sussex are fine as they are about to invest £550million in rebuilding half of the campus. The article implies that they are "lower-tariff" universities, so it pretty much discounts either institution in Brighton.

Southampton Solent seems like a realistic guess at one.

 

[Ernest]

Supply and demand, too many universities chucking out useless degrees that have no relevance in getting the students a job.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

Polytechnics should’ve stayed as Polytechnics rather than pretending to be Universities.

 

[Moshe Gariani]

The i is suggesting that three British universities are on the brink of bankruptcy including "two on the south coast".

Anyone got a theory about which "two on the south coast" are "on the brink of bankruptcy"...?

Obviously extremely serious as things are only going to get worse for such institutions - a percentage at the bottom of the pile are certain to go to the wall during the next few years. The old saying about not having to be faster than the lion just faster than the slowest gazelle will be comfort to many...

 

[Beanstalk]

I'd love to disagree but sadly UoB, with a few notable exceptions, is very much "lower tariff" in these modern times. "No tariff" would be closer to the truth for some courses scrambling to fill places this September...

Maybe, my time at uni seems to be getting further and further away...

All I can say is that, when I went in 2012, Sussex wanted AAA and Brighton wanted ABB for English. Both are pretty high entry requirements, and when you compared them with some of the real low-tariff (I seem to remember Teeside wanting 40 UCAS points which is equivalent to a single B) UoB was always seen, during my time, as a higher standard of "sister universities". Hopefully things haven't changed too dramatically!

 

[Moshe Gariani]

Southampton Solent seems like a realistic guess at one.

Good shout. They were struggling as "New College Southampton" 20 years ago but were then sustained by generally expanded student numbers.

 

[beorhthelm]

i know a lecturer at Brighton Uni, who complained they have too many students this year, double or treble intake on their courses i recall. (great for the Uni, but less time for research)

 

[Moshe Gariani]

Maybe, my time at uni seems to be getting further and further away...

All I can say is that, when I went in 2012, Sussex wanted AAA and Brighton wanted ABB for English. Both are pretty high entry requirements, and when you compared them with some of the real low-tariff (I seem to remember Teeside wanting 40 UCAS points which is equivalent to a single B) UoB was always seen, during my time, as a higher standard of "sister universities". Hopefully things haven't changed too dramatically!

Yes, fair points but things have changed a lot since 2012 and the decade or so before that. The truth is that UoB has a very large range of standards in terms of courses and their entry requirements. A few of the best courses can still ask for decent grades but more courses are simply desperate to fill places. Many offers for 2018 entry were even "unconditional" (although this tactic seems to have backfired with lower conversion rates from those that applied...).

 

[Moshe Gariani]

i know a lecturer at Brighton Uni, who complained they have too many students this year, double or treble intake on their courses i recall. (great for the Uni, but less time for research)

Your acquaintance will be lecturing on one of the few popular courses that were able to recruit to target. In an attempt to shore things up such courses have been required to accept excessive numbers - which is a nightmare for lecturing staff (not such a problem for mass lectures but hugely time consuming with regard to smaller group sessions, tutorials and marking...).

 

[Chicken Run]

I’d be gutted if either of the two Universities in the City went bankrupt...

 

[Moshe Gariani]

(junior is at UoB Eastbourne campus)

Where much of UoB's good news originates...

University scores nomination for top journalism award

BA Sport Journalism’s partnership with Brighton and Hove Albion has been shortlisted for ‘Innovation of the Year’ in the NCTJ Awards for Excellence. Launched at the start of the 17/18 season, the University’s pioneering Premier League Apprenticeship with Albion sees six final-year sport journalism students employed as matchday media assistants at the club.

BA Sport Journalism course leader Owen Evans said: “Reporting from a Premier League press box is beyond the reach of many professional sport journalists, so the fact that our students get the opportunity before they graduate – while being paid for the privilege – is something we’re very proud of. The National Council for the Training of Journalists sets the standard for our industry, so it’s encouraging to see them recognise our unique approach to working alongside the biggest names in the field.”

These students have interviewed high-profile football managers such as Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Jose Mourinho while completing their studies. After a successful launch, the Apprenticeship was renewed into the 18/19 season. In September 2018, the University of Brighton became Brighton and Hove Albion’s official higher education partner."

 

[dazzer6666]

Where much of UoB's good news originates...

]University scores nomination for top journalism award

BA Sport Journalism’s partnership with Brighton and Hove Albion has been shortlisted for ‘Innovation of the Year’ in the NCTJ Awards for Excellence. Launched at the start of the 17/18 season, the University’s pioneering Premier League Apprenticeship with Albion sees six final-year sport journalism students employed as matchday media assistants at the club.

BA Sport Journalism course leader Owen Evans said: “Reporting from a Premier League press box is beyond the reach of many professional sport journalists, so the fact that our students get the opportunity before they graduate – while being paid for the privilege – is something we’re very proud of. The National Council for the Training of Journalists sets the standard for our industry, so it’s encouraging to see them recognise our unique approach to working alongside the biggest names in the field.”

These students have interviewed high-profile football managers such as Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Jose Mourinho while completing their studies. After a successful launch, the Apprenticeship was renewed into the 18/19 season. In September 2018, the University of Brighton became Brighton and Hove Albion’s official higher education partner."

Yeah saw this - he's very interested in the Albion hook-up - not so much the media but specifically performance analysis and hoping there might be at least some work experience or poss internship opportunities

 

[Gwylan]

I don't understand how any universities can be struggling. I was talking to one of my old lecturers a few years ago and he said they had double the number of students (since my day) but no new members of staff. He was complaining vociferously about the workload. Student numbers have risen since then too. So, if the income is doubling or tripling but operational costs are staying roughly the same -although will be some capital cost increases - how on earth can universities be struggling?

I see that vice chancellor salaries have increased 41% in the last decade as universities have become more prosperous. Something doesn't add up

 

[Westdene Seagull]

Maybe, my time at uni seems to be getting further and further away...

All I can say is that, when I went in 2012, Sussex wanted AAA and Brighton wanted ABB for English. Both are pretty high entry requirements, and when you compared them with some of the real low-tariff (I seem to remember Teeside wanting 40 UCAS points which is equivalent to a single B) UoB was always seen, during my time, as a higher standard of "sister universities". Hopefully things haven't changed too dramatically!

I know it's a different subject but Miss W wants to study some sort of business. Sussex wants AAB, Brighton only wants CCC - quite a difference.