The big freeze

Wintry economic times have arrived for universities—is talk of institutional failure overblown?

In yesterday’s Playbook, we brought you news of the UK Higher Education Financial Sustainability Report, commissioned by Universities UK from the accounting firm PwC. The analysis of university finances ominously concluded that “it may be inevitable that there is some loss of provision across the sector”.

In case you do not speak consultantese, that means course, departmental and possibly institutional closures. The drums have been beating loudly that a British university will fail this year.