UNIVERSITY chiefs were today told they will have to tighten their belts
The vast majority of England’s universities will see their public funding slashed next year, it was announced today.
Oxford and Cambridge are among those losing out this year, as institutions are hit with the biggest cuts since the 1990s.
But the University of Huddersfield is confident it can continue to grow despite a cut in funding from the Higher Education Funding Council.
The University is to get £57,871,000 for the next 12 months – a cut of about £96,000 on last year, a reduction of less than 0.2%.
But the cut is harder to bear as it does not take inflation into account, which will see higher wage bills and higher energy bills.
But Peter Slee, the Deputy Vice Chancellor, is confident they can continue to grow.
“It is more or less what we had planned for, having been told in February to expect a reduction.
“We believe we will be able to absorb the reduction and continue to provide the very good student experience that we have for years. We also believe we can continue to make Huddersfield a good place to work.
“The Funding Council grant accounts for about 40% of our turnover and this year we will again seek to increase revenue from other areas, such as international students and research studies.”
According to figures announced by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce), more than half of England’s 130 universities have received cuts in cash terms for 2010/11.
But taking into account inflation at around 2%, 99 universities are facing a real terms cut, two will see their funding remain static, while just 29 will see an increase.
The cut in teaching grants means universities will be receiving less money per student, and it has also been revealed that there are around 6,000 fewer student places available this year.
