Reactions were mixed as Sir Alan Langlands, head of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, announced the University spending budget for 2010-11. The £7 billion pledged represents a significant real-terms cut to teaching and capital funding, versus the previous year.

Senior higher education figures criticised the move. Wes Streeting, the NUS president, dismissed it as “national self-harm”, while Steve Smith, President of Universities UK, and Wendy Piatt, Director General of the Russell Group of research-led Universities, voiced concern over the effect of funding uncertainty. It had been expected that cuts would be smaller.

Steve Smith commented:

“While HEFCE has done an admirable job of making difficult decisions, the continued uncertainty about the nature and scale of the cuts puts a real additional pressure on universities’ ability to plan effectively. The cuts represent a reduction of 4.6% in the unit of funding - the amount of teaching support for students. In the long term, this has the potential to threaten universities’ ability to offer the high-quality experience our students deserve and expect.”

He estimates that well over 200,000 University applicants will be left without a place this year. In 2009, by contrast, 160,000 missed out.

David Lammy, the Higher Education Minister for England, defended the decision, arguing that the budget was a reasonable compromise in times of austerity. Whilst teaching budgets will see a 1.6% real-terms cut, research budgets have been preserved, and most of the savings will be made by cuts to building projects.

"There will be a minimal impact on teaching and students. No further savings were announced and the bulk of the savings will come from a reduction in capital spend.

“These savings come against a background of record government investment in higher education - around 25% more than 1997."

Source: BBC, Universities UK, HEFCE