Dundee has required up to £62 million of emergency support to stabilise its finances.
Cardiff originally proposed cutting around 400 academic posts.
Ulster is consulting on cutting up to 450 jobs.

Scotland has passed a Tertiary Education and Training Act and begun a cross-party review of higher education funding – alongside the bailout funding.
Wales has launched a review of the future of tertiary education.
Northern Ireland’s economy minister has promised one in the run up to the next three-year budget.

The entire UK education system is in crisis. No one denies that. And until now, the devolved nations thought there just was no more money and so the only option is learn how to deliver without more. This is a very difficult situation for a university or college to be in and the impact on the student experience is probably hard to imagine.

It means that students are at risk of dropping out and more than half of students have skipped meals to save money. But what do you do when there is no more money to give? You look, and Justine Pedussel, NUS Scotland President and Jim Davidson, Associate Editor (SUs) WonkHE share where they have found money. The Treasury has had it all along – hidden within their accounting rules.

The following summary highlights the main arguments, evidence, and recommendations presented by the authors and the full article is here

Key Points:

1.University Funding Crisis:
– Universities in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland are experiencing severe financial difficulties, leading to emergency bailouts and proposed job cuts that are sector-wide.

– Students in these nations are also struggling, with maintenance support lagging behind benchmarks and inflation.

2.Hidden Cause: Treasury Accounting Rules:
– The crisis is not just about fees or efficiency but is rooted in how the UK Treasury accounts for student loans.

– Since 2019, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) requires the government to recognise the expected cost of student loan write-offs as public spending in the year the loan is issued.

– England’s student loan expenditure is much higher than the devolved nations: £82.9 billion for England since 2012, compared to just £6 billion combined for Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

– If the devolved nations received funding at England’s per-resident rate, they would have had £9.4 billion more over 13 years.

3. Devolution Funding Mechanism:
– Funding for devolved governments comes from two sources: the block grant (flexible, population-based) and annually managed expenditure (AME, direct and conditional).

– Student loans are funded through AME, but only if the devolved nations’ schemes are “broadly similar” to England’s. More generous or different systems do not receive equivalent flexible funding.
– This system incentivises debt: nations that create more student debt receive more Treasury support, while those that use grants or cap student numbers get less.

4. Transparency and Accountability Issues:
– The Treasury does not publish detailed calculations or comparability assessments for devolved nations, making the process opaque.
– Decisions made for England can suddenly impact the budgets of devolved nations, creating instability.

5. Recommendations:
– The authors call for funding reviews in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland to examine the funding machinery itself, not just fees and grants.
– They recommend the Treasury publish annual data for all four nations on loan outlay, write-off rates, and comparability assessments.
– Suggest a negotiated settlement that funds higher education choices (loans, grants, or free tuition) rather than just debt, similar to arrangements for welfare in Scotland.

6.Impact and Scale:
– In 2024-25 alone, matching England’s per-resident funding would have given Northern Ireland £183 million, Wales £269 million, and Scotland £364 million more fiscal capacity.
– This additional funding could prevent job cuts, support students, and stabilize universities without increasing student debt.

Conclusion:
The article argues that the current UK funding system for higher education unfairly disadvantages Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland by rewarding student debt rather than supporting diverse funding models. The authors urge greater transparency and a reformed approach that recognizes and funds the choices made by devolved governments, rather than perpetuating a system that drives financial crisis and limits options for students and universities.