University funding/finances

A Times Higher Education/Wall Street Journal analysis suggests that while the two-year MBA remains extremely strong, shorter alternatives are also becoming highly valued in a time-pressed world. Anna McKie reports

Overseas programmes are rarely money-spinners, but as power shifts east they will be crucial for Western universities’ continued relevance, says Matt Durnin

Both the rationale and the mechanism for redistributing research activity around the regions are far from clear cut, say Sarah Chaytor and Graeme Reid   

Sector leaders fear consultation could be cover for cutbacks

Adam Habib fears ‘race to the middle’ if national fee-setting regime introduced

Research the goal but not the currency, as Australian universities chase Chinese dollars

Legislation leaves government free to ‘ratchet up’ levy, say critics

Japan’s combined budgetary crunch and demographic squeeze has raised questions about the sustainability of its huge university sector. John Ross visits the country to investigate

Although less than half of fee income typically goes directly to teaching, English universities should not fear more openness, says Hepi study

‘Cost recovery’ levy defies logic, institutions argue

Association of Colleges head says new route should be coupled with ‘limit’ on number of students taking bachelor’s degrees

In what could become a model for the rest of the country, Corvinus University of Budapest will have to rely on tuition fees and endowment interest

Government attempts to protect regional institutions by restricting growth in capital

Australian universities may have to wait months to find out how much funding they will forfeit

Universities criticise source of new cash splash

Research reportedly picking up the tab for Australian government’s regional cash splash

Leaks suggesting plans to lower fees could chime with government agenda on tackling cross-subsidy

A downturn last decade offers a textbook example of the risk universities face, say Melbourne researchers

Office for Students chair says institutions must be ‘better at managing their affairs’ after reports that some are in financial trouble

Representative organisation criticises vice-chancellors’ aversion to sharing funding with vocational education

The Australian government has released three major data sets unusually back-to-back and full of mistakes, leading John Ross to ask: why so much, why so fast and why so erroneous?

Parent institutions siphon off majority of most UK business schools’ expenditure, survey says

Many students who do not complete their course at the first attempt often return to their studies, say experts

Australia’s freeze on teaching grants protected struggling institutions, not education budget

The possibility of a university failing as it is exposed to commercial forces could have consequences that ripple out far beyond campus

Record revenue fuelled by large foreign intakes at the country’s biggest universities

Deepening deficits of up to £14 million at English universities prompt warnings of damage to cities and towns reliant on universities as ‘anchors’

Regional institutions hardest hit as domestic cap dovetails with intense competition for foreigners

Department tasks KPMG with surveying universities on their teaching costs, in work for Augar review

Canadian university leader said he would be ‘worried’ if he were at an institution in the province 

UUK and CBI back transformation of apprenticeship levy into ‘skills levy’

Consultants argue Humboldtian ideal of research-informed teaching ‘shackles’ institutions into uniformity

Director of Indian Institute of Technology Bombay says universities in India are improving but progress will be slow despite government initiatives

The animosity towards higher education seen in the UK is likely to head Down Under, vice-chancellor warns

Many countries on continent have not repaired cuts made during financial crisis, despite economic growth

The relaxation of the research excellence framework’s submission rules could see research-intensive universities clustered on near-maximum scores, warms Dominic Dean

Seeking a greater share of imagined profits from commercialisation would undermine technology transfer, says David Secher

Thanks to a big boost in aid from colleges, students paid slightly less on average this year, but the reduced fees could take a toll on quality, expert warns

Australian fears of official curbing of student visas ‘overblown’, experts say

Ten regional public universities plead bankruptcy following sector cries of chronic underfunding

Universities responsible for ensuring research funding sustainability, minister says

Latest data from OECD raises questions about growth of per-student spending in some countries, but by no means all nations

Western universities must do much more to meet high-fee-paying Chinese students’ expectations, say Lena Langosch and Wilfred Dolfsma

What are vice-chancellors’ insights into the trends, threats and priorities affecting the future of the university? Nearly 200 leaders of world-ranked universities give their views on where the sector will be in the year 2030. John Ross reports

Countries around the world are increasingly seeing the benefits of a compromise between free fees and income-contingent loans, say Alex Usher and Robert Burroughs

A decade of budget reductions and surging student numbers leaves sector ill-prepared for further increases, institutions warn

Thinktanks join forces to warn ‘last-dollar’ approach leaves low-income students unable to afford daily essentials

Last year’s move to ease burden on graduates means system is almost back to where it was before fees hike, IFS report suggests

For second straight year, Republican-led Congress defies President Trump to hike federal funding for universities and students

Data in OECD’s Education at a Glance shows large variation in proportion of current expenditure being spent on teachers and support staff

Augar review needs to take account of key ONS debt study but get in ahead of spending review, observers warn

Former Bank of England governor Mervyn King and economist John Kay address the USS’ so-called funding crisis and propose a fairer approach to sharing risk between employers, employees and generations

Universities would have to share proposed equity grants scheme with colleges and non-profits

Association of Colleges urges government review to take action on England’s unconditional offers and admissions ‘free-for-all’

Government washing its hands over ‘market failure’, finance guru says

The mercury has fallen, but an alarming number of issues threaten to ignite and, potentially, give the UK sector some painful burns

Hepi paper highlights that ‘progressive’ reforms mean poorer students will have larger debts and less cash in hand than before

Australian universities are nervous about how governments, students and their own academics will react to new legal curbs on ‘foreign influence’, says Dean Forbes

Be more bolshie in your negotiations with government, sector told

Steady ship predicted as education portfolio changes hands