Funding issues in the UK higher education sector are set to be examined by MPs amid widespread concern about redundancies and course closures.
The House of Commons Education Committee has announced a “deep dive” into the state of university finances, with an evidence session set to take place on 8 April.
It comes ahead of the government’s June multi-year spending review in which ministers are under pressure to find ways of getting more funding to the sector, including by indexing English tuition fees to inflation, which would take them above ?10,000 in two years.
Chair Helen Hayes said the evidence session was called because “the UK’s higher education sector is in trouble”.
“Dozens of universities are making redundancies and cuts to courses, trying to stay afloat amid uncertainty over where their money is coming from,” she added.
The session will be the first major intervention the committee has made in the higher education sector since last year’s election.
Hayes, the Labour MP for Dulwich and West Norwood who was elected chair last September, has so far focused mostly on schools and early years education in her time in the role.
“The education committee will look under the bonnet at what is going on,” she said, adding that it “will examine the perfect storm bearing down on institutions, including fluctuations in domestic and international student numbers, pension contributions, and the rate of tuition fees”.
“We will also look at the role of research funding in supporting higher education and the distribution of financial challenges across different higher education institutions,” Hayes added.
Universities have been plunged into financial difficulties after years of frozen fees, with recent declines in international student revenue restricting their ability to cross-subsidise.
Rising costs including the coming National Insurance rise and inflationary pressures have exacerbated the issues and led to institutions cutting hundreds of jobs.
Hayes said that the committee will “investigate what this all means for students and staff – the people at the centre of the higher education sector – including the possible impact of funding issues on student experience, quality of courses, pastoral care, and academics’ pay and conditions”.
She said MPs wanted to understand “what protections are there for students – who are taking on significant levels of debt and facing cost-of-living pressures – if courses close, lecturers leave, or if we reach a stage where universities close or merge”.
