Professor Steve Smith, President of Universities UK, said: “Today’s cuts to the higher education budget cannot be good news for our economy or society. Universities UK has consistently opposed cuts to the university teaching and research budget.

“We are pleased that the Government has listened to Universities UK’s views on the importance of science and research to the growth of the economy, and that this is recognised in the protection of the research budget in cash terms. This is a vote of confidence in a vitally important area at this critical time.

“However, the freezing of funding for research will still pose challenges to our universities. We are now one of the only countries in the industrialised world that is not increasing our investment in science and research.

“We now have two priorities. To ensure that these cuts do not impact negatively on current and future students, and to find alternative funding sources to replace these lost funds. This will be particularly challenging given the immediate year-on-year cuts to the overall budget.

“Universities will continue to do all they can to minimise the impact of any cuts on the front-line services they deliver. The Government must now respond, as a matter of urgency, to Lord Browne's proposals to deal with this gap in public funding. A mismatch in timing between Lord Browne’s proposals and today’s announcement would be hugely damaging for students and the university sector.

“We are also concerned about the impact of policy announcements in other government departments which relate to higher education, such as teacher education and regional development.”

Notes

1. Further information on the Government Spending Review announcement is available online.
2. Universities UK provided a submission to the Spending Review (7 October). It outlined the critical role that universities will play in helping secure the UK’s future economic growth and prosperity.