The Galleon - Portsmouth's Official Student Newspaper

Vice-Chancellor John Craven talks to students about their concerns. Photo by Dan Chesterton.

Fees and funding issues

John Craven
Vice-Chancellor
University of Portsmouth

29 November 2010

I had an interesting discussion with a group of university and college students in University House during the Day of Action on 24 November. They said that they felt that the university could do more to communicate with students about fees and funding issues through websites and through Pugwash. I am very happy to update students as this issue develops in the coming months.

Funding cuts and higher fees

The main area of discussion in University House was, of course, the proposed increase in fees, and the cuts in public funding. We do not yet have full information about how the proposed cuts in public funding will affect Portsmouth. However, the headline figures suggest that our annual grant will be reduced by £40 million to £45 million by 2015. The government believes that universities will regain most or all of this by charging higher fees.

It is important to know that the proposed fee increase will affect UK and EU undergraduates who join the university in 2012 and later years. Those who enrolled for the first time in earlier years, including 2011, will pay fees at the current level plus a small increase to reflect inflation.

The proposals for higher fees from 2012 include a commitment by the government to ensure that every student can access a loan, so that no-one has to find the money to pay fees before they graduate. There will also be loans and means-tested grants to help with living costs. The repayments on these loans will be related to graduates’ incomes, and no repayment will be required from any graduate if their income is below £21,000 per year.

My main concerns

My first concern is that there has not been a sensible debate about the appropriate balance between what the government pays towards higher education, and what should be met by students once they have graduated. Individuals benefit from a university education, but it is also good for the economy to have well educated graduates holding important roles. The government’s requirement for major savings in public expenditure has prevented a proper debate on that balance.

My second concern is that school pupils, quite early in their lives, may decide that universities only open to people from well-off families. Those who come from families where no-one has ever been to university might then decide not to take the exams which are needed to get to university. Like many of our present students and staff, I was from the first generation of my family to go to university, and it would be a tragedy if that route to social mobility became less effective.

Cuts up to now

The students at the demonstration also asked about the cuts that we have already faced. Since 2009, the government has reduced the grant (including capital funding) to universities, and our share of this reduction has been £1 million in 2009/10 and £2.5 million this year. In addition, their grant to us has not increased to take account of inflation, which has cost us around £1 million last year and £2 million this year. We expect more cuts next year – before we can receive any additional fee income.

Last spring we offered all staff the opportunity to retire or resign from the university through what is known as the voluntary severance scheme. We were prepared to allow staff to leave provided that the university would save money even though a replacement, at a lower staffing grade, might be required. In the end about 130 people are leaving under the scheme and we have so far agreed about 40 replacements. In addition we have continued to make staff appointments in subjects where student demand is growing and where we feel that staff numbers are too low.

We have been looking at other ways of saving money, particularly on the central overheads of the university. We also have a number of projects which are designed to help students – for example in increasing our e-learning resources. In all these changes, we want to try to ensure that students’ experience of the university is not damaged by the government cuts. So, for example we keep a very close watch on staffing levels in teaching departments, we have increased staff numbers in the Careers and Employment service and protected the Library budget and student services based in Nuffield.

Conclusion

These are very worrying times for present and future students not only because of these changes in university funding, but also because of the uncertain prospects for careers in an economic downturn. As Vice-Chancellor, I have been involved in many meetings with ministers and other politicians to point out the problems with the present policy, and in particular to emphasise that highly educated people are very important for getting the economy back towards prosperity. As voters, you might want to write to your MP to put forward your own views.

I will write again when the position develops further.