The Rise and Fall of Britain’s Universities
When Britain’s Labour Party introduced tuition fees in 1998, they did so ostensibly to fund the expansion of higher education. But underlying this decision was the confused idea that social mobility could be an alternative to economic redistribution.
Students demonstrate for an end to the marketization of university and college education on November 19, 2016, in London, UK. (Mike Kemp / In Pictures via Getty Images)
In January, a report on the financial sustainability of the UK’s Higher Education sector revealed that 40 percent of the country’s universities were forecasting a deficit for 2023–24. By March, the University and College Union (UCU) branch at Queen Mary University of London had launched a live webpage titled “UK HE shrinking.” As the sector dwindles, the page grows; at the time of writing, it identifies sixty-four universities in the UK that are rolling out redundancies, restructures, reorganizations, and department closures.
On July 4, the Labour Party was elected to government with a landslide majority and a promise to rebuild Britain’s public sector after fourteen damaging years of Conservative rule. Amid staffing and funding crises in primary education, prisons, and the National Health Service, higher education has fallen to the wayside, barely garnering attention on the campaign trail. The following lines, buried deep in the 2024 manifesto, amount to the new government’s total engagement with the university sector:
The current higher education funding settlement does not work for the taxpayer, universities, staff, or students. Labour will act to create a secure future for higher education and the opportunities it creates across the UK. We will work with universities to deliver for students and our economy.
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