Culture, Power, Politics » Podcast
Universities in Crisis (part 1)
Jul 16, 2026 · 1 hr 14 min · 10 segments
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Culture, Power, Politics » Podcast
Jul 16, 2026 · 1 hr 14 min · 10 segments
Alan FinlaysonHost
But I think the key bit is trying to understand that history in the context of political, cultural, economic shifts in the post-war period that can then help us see what's going on.
Not that I disagree with any of the various analyses already, but I think we can fill out that analysis in terms of how part of what is going on is a broader cultural economic conflict over knowledge power.
So shall I just run us through the headlines of where we are? I think you should, yes.
This is obviously a bit personal to both of us because we've worked in universities for most of our professional lives.
As of now, the Office for Students, the government regulator for universities, estimates that 45% of British universities, I think it is British and not English and Welsh, are going to be in deficit this year.
So they'll be making less from student fees and other forms of income than they are spending.
There are redundancies, hiring freezes, course closures going on all over the British university system.
Queen Mary University and College Union has a really helpful, if depressing, website called UKHE Shrinking, in which it lists, going back the last couple of years, all the universities that are making cuts.
They've got 110 universities listed on there as having made cuts, redundancies or course closures and so on.
And that's probably not including those that have made cuts that don't show up in that, that have just cut funding or allowed things to wither or reduced support for students or for staff, whatever it might be.
Now, in any other sector, that would be huge, right? This is also the day when we've heard that steel's being nationalised, which I'm not opposed to, but it's a much smaller sector than higher education, which is in a bigger crisis and is causing more job losses.
But I think the key bit is trying to understand that history in the context of political, cultural, economic shifts in the post-war period that can then help us see what's going on.
Not that I disagree with any of the various analyses already, but I think we can fill out that analysis in terms of how part of what is going on is a broader cultural economic conflict over knowledge power.
So shall I just run us through the headlines of where we are? I think you should, yes.
This is obviously a bit personal to both of us because we've worked in universities for most of our professional lives.
As of now, the Office for Students, the government regulator for universities, estimates that 45% of British universities, I think it is British and not English and Welsh, are going to be in deficit this year.
So they'll be making less from student fees and other forms of income than they are spending.
There are redundancies, hiring freezes, course closures going on all over the British university system.
Queen Mary University and College Union has a really helpful, if depressing, website called UKHE Shrinking, in which it lists, going back the last couple of years, all the universities that are making cuts.
They've got 110 universities listed on there as having made cuts, redundancies or course closures and so on.
And that's probably not including those that have made cuts that don't show up in that, that have just cut funding or allowed things to wither or reduced support for students or for staff, whatever it might be.
Now, in any other sector, that would be huge, right? This is also the day when we've heard that steel's being nationalised, which I'm not opposed to, but it's a much smaller sector than higher education, which is in a bigger crisis and is causing more job losses.
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