This is going to make the UK education system a laughing stock around the world. According to the headline (click on the title to read the article) the UK education system is in freefall - "Universities face 'biggest cuts since Great Depression."
Vice-chancellors have been warned that funding may be slashed by 35 per cent over the next five years, it has emerged. The warning – delivered in a series of meetings between Sir Gus O’Donnell, the Cabinet Secretary, and university bosses – would represent the biggest cut in resources since the 1930s, it is claimed. It would be equivalent to the current £5,441 annual Government subsidy for each student being reduced to just £3,537.
Universities said the reduction would have devastating consequences for higher education in England – jeapordising the sector’s world class status. Many universities will seek to make savings by axing loss-making courses, closing libraries, cramming more students into lectures and failing to repair crumbling buildings. It is also likely to lead to an increase in the number of foreign students who can be charged much higher fees than British undergraduates.
How can a country as well developed and with a thriving education sector known throughout the world as "world class" be so shortsighted as to reduce the funding for higher education by a whopping 35%? The repercussions will be devastating and further erode the economic status of the UK which is already close to seeing a double dip recession.
This is on top of the reports that many 3-year degrees will be reduced to a 2-year program. You have to wonder where this is all leading - a surveillance state with more cameras than anywhere else in the world and with an education system that is going to the dogs!!
This is a very sad day for anyone coming through the educational system in the UK and who will be looking to get a good education. Not since the Great Depression has there been such widespread cuts in public funding.
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