The UK Higher Education sector holds a well-established international reputation for its excellent academic education and world-leading research, making it the second most popular study destination globally. With high standards of quality in research, the sector adds significantly to the UK’s global standing and economy, contributing an estimated £71bn to GDP in 2021/22.
More recently, however, the sector has been facing a number of problems which cast shadows on that track record and question its future viability:
- student numbers have been in (sometimes sharp) decline, with variations across institutions, but problems being created for the whole sector; in particular, the UK’s attractiveness to international students seems to have been diminished, resulting in a significant drop in applications from abroad - and consequently international fee income;
- funding higher education institutions has become problematic, stemming both from a long-term funding freeze in fees per domestic student which in addition has been reduced in real value through inflation;
- financial pressures and the growing need to cross-subsidise domestic teaching threaten to undermine research quality in the long-term.
The paper discusses these developments against a background of Brexit (end to freedom of movement), restrictive migration policy and partisan policy preferences of both the Conservative and Labour parties, arguing that a mix of ideological positions and unintended consequences can explain many of the Higher Education sector‘s problems. It ends with a discussion whether and how a rapprochement between the UK and the EU could help solve some of these problems.