Baroness Sharp of Guildford
Main Page: Baroness Sharp of Guildford (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Baroness Sharp of Guildford
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much university funding has been cut from the academic year 2010–11.
Lord Wallace of Saltaire
My Lords, in December last year, the previous Administration made a higher education funding reduction of £449 million on their original plans. By focusing the previously announced university modernisation fund on only high-quality proposals, we were able to support both 10,000 extra student places for 2010-11 and to make available an additional £50 million to fund these. The overall effect of changes in university funding in England in 2010-11 will therefore be a reduction of some £379 million on original plans.
Baroness Sharp of Guildford
My Lords, is the Minister aware of what a rollercoaster the previous Government and this Government have put universities on? The funding was down by £400 million in November last year, was up again in March and is now down again. Given that the universities are only one part of the BIS budget and the only non-ring-fenced part of the education budget, they are taking a quite disproportionate cut in funding as a result of the changes that have been announced. Is this wise, given that it is widely acknowledged that the new jobs will have to come from the knowledge economy? He may wish to reply as his predecessor on the other Benches did—that the university sector has benefitted enormously from increases in the first 10 years of this century—but is he aware that these made good the neglect of the previous 20 years and that we have only just caught up with the position that we were in earlier?
Lord Wallace of Saltaire
My Lords, universities are not taking a disproportionate cut. One has to remember that direct public funding is not the only source of university funding in this country. It will be tough for all those receiving public spending in the next few years, but we are conscious that the science budget has to be protected as an essential part of rebuilding our manufacturing base, and that university education and technical education feed directly into regaining economic growth.