The University of York is facing a financial crisis and are consequently trying to lower their running costs, but there is significant concern about how this will affect students' experience, as well as the quality of teaching.
Nouse spoke to a staff member from the TFTI department who said: “Every department had to produce a budget with significant cuts. The plan as submitted would reduce taught hours somewhat but the course is still doable with the cuts. The problem is if they are asked to make more cuts - the budget is as tight as it can go without the work suffering.”
They emphasised that “the main thing that students will notice is a reduction in taught hours.”
Nouse understands that departments across the University will suffer differently - the more hands-on courses (Music, Theatre, etc) will be more vulnerable than those that are classroom based: Maths and English etc.
The University’s financial reports for the past three years show that the combination of Covid-19, the cost of living crisis and loss of international students has had a significant impact. The 2023 report stated “The university has faced levels of inflation not seen in decades, uncertainty in global markets, and an unsustainable HE funding model, all of which have added pressure to our financial planning.” They ended the year with a deficit of £24 million, following the flat tuition fee income for the year, high inflation on staff costs and operating expenses.
The impact of the cost of living crisis can be seen in the price of lab equipment used at York - a microscope that cost £100 in 2021 now costs £120. The tuition fee hasn’t seen an increase since 2017, when it was capped at £9,250. Unlike the cost of resources, these fees haven’t followed inflation, so they aren’t as valuable to the university. If they followed inflation, our tuition costs would be £12,500 per year, according to the Bank of England.
Last year's report was not positive, with a deficit following flat tuition fee income for the year and high inflation on staff costs and other operating expenses.
The number of students is also falling. Various reports have shown the impact of rising visa costs and policies are causing a decline in the number of international students, who contributed more than £49 billion to the UK economy in 2021/22. The percentage of masters students is down 55% and undergrads 23%. York recently made headlines for lowering the grade boundaries for international students, with the hopes of bringing some of these students back as their much higher tuition fees are an important source of income.
A University of York spokesperson said: “Like many others in the UK sector, we continue to face increasing costs due to the combined impacts of the cost of living crisis and the decline in student fee income. We’ve moved quickly to manage our finances, including managing estate costs, a voluntary severance scheme, and pausing major capital programmes. We recognise this is a difficult and unsettling time, but we aim to protect as many jobs as possible and return to a surplus, so that we can continue to protect our position as one of the UK’s top performing universities.”
Nouse recently reported on several of these measures, including the loss of 413 jobs to save £24 million via a voluntary severance scheme, and the downsizing of the University by moving departments out of King’s Manor. These decisions have outraged postgraduates, prompted concern from disabled students, and drawn plenty of ire from UCU. The building of the new student centre has also been paused.
There are also plans to change the way that students are assessed, by decreasing the amount of assessments. The objective of this is to lessen the marking burden for staff, “making better use” of their time. Several students contacted by Nouse expressed concern at how this would affect the quality of teaching.
It also remains to be seen how changes to marking and assessments will affect staff. Many staff are guest lecturers, meaning they can run courses like many contracted employees, but get paid hourly and invoice the university. These staff members aren’t guaranteed work, and may well be the first to be impacted by changes in hours and working patterns.
Vice Chancellor Charlie Jeffery released a statement piece in April where he stated “The UK higher education system is in crisis. The way it’s funded just doesn’t work anymore” and published a ten point plan containing his opinions of what is needed to create long term stability for the sector. He discussed creating a single government department for higher education which would aim to fix issues including: visa regulations, supporting research and funding, reinstating inflation with maintenance grant adjustments and fixing funding.
The current government has no plans to adopt such an approach. It seems extremely unlikely that it will happen any time soon.
The King’s speech in July opened the first session of Parliament since the new government and outlined Labour’s law-making plans. Among the 39 bills announced, there was no mention of any plans for Universities across the country - many of which are facing bankruptcy. A Skills England bill was mentioned, potentially pushing young people away from university and into apprenticeships and similar schemes, maybe using the funding that could’ve been put into universities.
Sir Keir Starmer stated that he will prioritise tackling the NHS crisis over Universities, saying “we can’t have both”.
Universities now lose £1 billion each year on teaching domestic students and £5 billion undertaking research, with inflation and cost of living pressures on top.
The York Students Union (formerly YUSU) is under much less financial stress than the University. Academic Officer Fenella Johnson told Nouse that “as an independent charity, our budget operates separately to the University, and we are not directly affected by the same financial pressures.”
“Following the merger of YUSU and the GSA, we are beginning our new chapter as York SU with a strong financial foundation. As well as existing funding from both organisations, we will be continuing to diversify our income and fundraising options to ensure we maintain a strong financial standing. We will continue to assess our financial situation as the year progresses, and make any adjustments which may be needed.”
“In addition, we will continue to monitor the impact of cost-saving measures on students, and work to mitigate any financial or wellbeing concerns which arise throughout the year. We remain committed to supporting students at every stage of their time at York.”
So, is our university going to go bankrupt? There is no definitive answer, but it is extremely unlikely that York will close down soon. The biggest differences that students can expect are a reduction in contact hours, bigger class sizes and less staff members.
