UK universities face money troubles as experts step in to prevent collapse
UK education watchdog brings financial experts to check troubled universitiesʼ books. With rising costs and fewer international students many schools struggle to stay afloat despite governments help
The UKʼs higher-education watchdog has brought-in big finance firms to check universities money problems. PwC and KPMG got picked to watch-over schools that might go broke: their job is making sure no students end up without classes
The Office for Students found some not-good news; about 3/4 of schools will lose money next yr (and 40% dont have enough cash saved up). They think schools need to find ways to fix a big money gap — around £3.4bn by 2025 — because there arent as many foreign students coming anymore
Two schools show how bad things are getting. Coventry University had some rough numbers:
- Had to save £100m in two years
- Paid £55m just to get foreign students
- Spent lots more on basic stuff like heat and rent
- Has many students not paying fees on time
Meanwhile London South Bank University isnt doing great either — they lost £16.4m last yr; even though their boss David Phoenix got a £10k bonus (making his pay £322k). The school says its ok because they have good assets‚ but experts think different
The government tried to help by making tuition fees go up from £9‚250 to £9‚535: but money-people say its not enough. Simon Stibbons from Kroll thinks the next year-and-half will be super hard for schools. With higher costs and less money coming in; many places might need more than just small fixes to stay open
