Some universities will go bust thread 2

[GinForBreakfast]

Continuing as thread 1 has filled up.

To peg them at the same fee level as Access courses.

OfS has been prepared to find interim funding solutions - for one uni earlier this year, and no doubt several currently. Note that there will be no direct bail out, just short term loans to enable merger/restructure/whatever.

That’s a relief as dd is there.

I did note at one uni for a particular course, the acceptance rate as communicated on open day was 80% for the internationals and 20% for the home students. So although they were treated as two different intakes, the upshot was that the course had 80% internationals!!

Yes, relief shame to see it go and also a potential for DC's application!

9 subjects potentially going at the Uni of Central Lancashire:

UCLan is considering removing nine subjects from its programme of courses as of next year: these are French, Spanish, German, Russian, TESOL (Teaching of English to speakers of other languages), Philosophy, Religion, Politics, International Relations and Chemistry.

www.lep.co.uk/education/were-devastated-that-uclan-is-planning-to-get-rid-of-nine-subjects-for-good-4855877

A lot of Unis seem to be cutting MFLs like French Spanish and German (although UCLan still seems to be doing Korean, Japanese and Chinese). I suppose that UCLan is in direct competition with Lancaster Uni when it comes to MFL, particularly with local students so maybe the decision is wise?

I see that UUK are creating a Taskforce on Efficiency and Transformation in Higher Education.

https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/latest/news/new-era-collaboration-between

All a bit buzzword bingo in terms of the press release; but one can hope that practical and substantive changes will be identified and delivered. Whether such hope is realistic remains to be seen. I'm not hugely confident.

The Taskforce will take an ‘all options on the table’ approach to how - after years of working to reduce costs individually – universities can partner, collaborate and deliver transformation and cost savings through new models and ways of working.

Sir Nigel will lead more than a dozen experts to consider detailed and radical options for cross-sector working and to produce comprehensive business cases for these.

The cynic in me reads the next bit as more deckchair re-arrangement than any systemic transformational change.

Options under consideration will include systems and processes to drive down cost through the collective buying power of the university sector, shared delivery of some student facing services, and achieving greater consistency in the way universities operate to make collaboration simpler in future.

and a date for the diary too! May 2025 University Transformation and Efficiency Summit . To usher in the "New Era"

None of that will do much. But it will cost money to implement. Juicy for consultants.

Why is it just working-class males who should consider becoming plumbers, electricians and gas appliance installers?

In light of the recent redundancies in the City of London, the same could be said for many middle-class males and females.

High-flying City workers set to be most affected by AI, finds UK study

It’s in the context of which group is least likely to get to uni. The stats say working class males. However I agree, anyone should think about these jobs. I don’t believe uni is the right place for quite a big percentage who go. They really might be happier in relatively well paid vocational jobs.

www.walesonline.co.uk/news/education/cardiff-university-job-cuts-400-30882168.amp

First Russell Group to announce redundancies (as opposed to "release schemes"). Nursing is a shock.

Thanks (although given the context that does seem a wholly appropriate word) for that link @GinForBreakfast

I see the VC says it will be:

a slightly smaller university refocused around our core and emerging strengths

Fewer staff rather than fewer students?

no detail on what the emerging strengths might be. Presumably their advising consultants haven’t told them that yet.

do you, or any other contributors to the thread, know if they’ve seen a significant drop in international students? Above that is the typical change seen in their marketing group of research intensive universities?

Maybe it’s part of fixing the fundamentals. The news announced was more than hinted at in the message to students from Nicola Innes published at the start of December.

Does not seem totally aligned with the big font statements at the start of this

https://www.cardiff.ac.uk/about/our-profile/strategy/our-future-together

@boys3 Looking at the schools most affected, Music, MFLs, Nursing, Ancient History, Religion and Theology, one imagines these aren’t popular with overseas students. Therefore they are probably struggling to recruit from a diminishing pool of potential students.

The financial situation at Cardiff certainly looks stark - this photo is circulating from an internal presentation to staff.

@TizerorFizz I’m assuming that is something that shouldn’t be shared

So they’ve spent more money than what they made over three years. What incompetence.

@crumblingschools Did you mean me? All I have shared (as you can see) in a screenshot from walesonline. Not anything that I have received on a confidential basis. I have no connection with the university and no access to confidential information.

@Casparina sorry I did mean you. Apologies to @TizerorFizz

I am assuming the person who originally shared it was in the wrong.

Been involved with something similar where confidential document was shared to local press and then it went everywhere!

@crumblingschools every university will assume that presentations like that are likely to end up in the public domain.

Pretty decisive action from Cardiff. Deep cuts now to stave off future disaster. Their published accounts are by no means the worst in the RG, or the sector.

But a lot can be hidden by CFOs.

It might be confidential but that doesn’t mean it’s not in the public interest. However spending more than you earn is stating the obvious. It’s why there’s a deficit! Everyone knows about overseas students and clearly they haven’t moved to stem the deficit early enough. I don’t think it matters which universities contract or merge, but some need to get on with it. Students are put in a difficult position without clarity.

Just leaving these here (worth reading the WonkHE article in full):

https://wonkhe.com/blogs/an-early-look-at-2023-24-university-finances/

https://qmucu.org/qmul-transformation/uk-he-shrinking/

Also the Welsh government cut the number of nursing degrees it supported and they weren’t all filled anyway. So this might have led Cardiff to scale back?