With the increase in tuition fees in 2010 from £3,225 to £9,000, and again to £9,250 in 2017, it was expected that universities would use the additional funding to enhance access to higher education. However, England’s higher education funding model is facing an uncertain future. Tuition fees, currently frozen, are leaving universities and colleges £2,500 short per home student this year and this shortfall is projected to rise to £5,000 by the academic year 2029-2030, according to the Russell Group, a consortium of 24 leading British research universities.
In addition, the promise of a university education has become increasingly uncertain for students. During the national lockdowns in the UK, students were prohibited from attending campuses, and learning was limited to virtual platforms like Zoom and Microsoft Teams. In-person lectures resumed gradually at many institutions long after restrictions were lifted.
This situation has led to a surge in legal action against universities from graduates who paid full fees for online teaching. The University and College Union has been engaged in industrial action for the past five years, resulting in students missing out on hundreds of thousands of teaching hours. The union’s latest tactic, a boycott of marking assessments, has resulted in numerous students graduating without receiving a degree this year.
Striking lecturers argue that the revenues earned by universities are not being adequately reflected in their wages, while senior leadership at many institutions enjoy six-figure salaries. In recognition of the “urgent inflationary pressures” faced by staff, universities and unions agreed in February to bring forward a pay settlement for the next academic year, ranging from 5 to 8%.
The Blair-era Expansion
Following Labour’s landslide victory in 1997, the government inherited a university system that only catered to a minority of school leavers. At the beginning of the decade, only approximately 20% of English students went on to study at university by the age of 30. Earning a degree was largely seen as a privilege reserved for the country’s elite, despite the reforms implemented by Sir John Major which abolished the distinction between polytechnics and universities.
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