Cut student places not funding, says university chief
The government should slash student places at “pile it high, sell it cheap” universities – even if it means some being forced to close – to protect Britain’s “world class” research institutions, the head of University College London has said.
Speaking ahead of a speech on Thursday by the business secretary, Vince Cable, in which the government is expected to outline plans to cut costs in higher education, UCL’s Malcolm Grant said elite universities feared the government was poised to cut research funding.
Such a move could “decimate Britain’s global competitiveness in research”, Grant told the Guardian, arguing that there is a “direct human benefit” in areas such as cancer and Parkinson’s disease from research-intensive universities …