UCU touts polling and warns of “marketised model” causing “chaotic scramble” around results day
Nearly 90 per cent of young people think it is important for the government to support universities at risk of closure, University and College Union polling has found, as the union warned of a “chaotic scramble” for recruitment around results day
In UCU polling of 1,000 respondents aged 17-21, when asked how important or not it was for the state to provide support including “emergency government funding” for any university at risk of closure, around 36 per cent said it was “very important”, while 51 per cent said it was “fairly important”.
Jo Grady, the UCU general secretary, said the ongoing “chaotic scramble” for student recruitment by universities, especially through clearing demonstrated the reason universities need a new funding model.
‘Ending the marketised HE experiment’
“The overreliance on tuition fee income is causing huge financial instability across the sector,” Grady said.
She warned that institutions are resorting to making “inappropriate inducements” to entice students, including via free accommodation or cash gifts.
The government, in turn, “must step in and protect the sector”, Grady insisted.
“It needs to agree to provide emergency funding to protect all jobs, courses and institutions at risk, and end the failed marketised higher education experiment.”
Holding employers accountable
The polling, conducted by market research company Savanta, also showed that 70 per cent of young people surveyed agreed with the idea of employers paying more towards the cost of higher education.
Grady argued the government should “urgently listen” to the country’s young people.
“[It should] consider UCU’s proposals for a publicly funded system backed by a levy on graduate employers,” she added.
UCU referred to a May 2024 report conducted by London Economics for the union, which looked at how fees could be “abolished” and replaced with such a levy.