UK universities need rescue package to stop ‘domino effect’ of going under
-Experts say the next head of the Office for Students must oversee a programme that will protect higher education

英國大學需要救援計劃,以阻止破產(chǎn)的“多米諾效應”
——專家表示,下一任學生辦公室負責人必須監(jiān)督一項保護高等教育的計劃


(Ex-Tory minister Chris Skidmore could head the Office for Students.)

(前保守黨大臣克里斯·斯基德莫爾可能領導學生辦公室。)
新聞:

The new head of the Office for Students (OfS) will have to oversee rescue plans to avoid a “domino effect” with a number of universities going under, experts have warned.

專家警告說,學生辦公室的新負責人將不得不監(jiān)督救援計劃,以避免許多大學破產(chǎn)的“多米諾骨牌效應”。

The new government’s Department for Education (DfE) announced on Tuesday that it had accepted the resignation of the OfS’s controversial chair, James Wharton, a former Tory MP who ran Boris Johnson’s leadership campaign. Lord Wharton, who was given the job of running the independent regulator in 2021 despite having no experience of higher education, did not give up the Tory whip in the Lords and was widely criticised for being too close to the Conservative government.

新政府的教育部周二宣布,已經(jīng)接受了教育局備受爭議的主席詹姆斯·沃頓的辭呈。沃頓是前保守黨議員,曾負責鮑里斯·約翰遜的領導競選。沃頓勛爵于2021年被任命為獨立監(jiān)管機構的負責人,盡管他沒有高等教育經(jīng)驗,但他沒有放棄保守黨在上議院的黨鞭職務,并因與保守黨政府關系過于密切而受到廣泛批評。
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One of the most surprising names said to be on the list of possible contenders to replace Wharton is Chris Skidmore, the former Tory energy minister who resigned from the government in January and has been excoriating in recent public attacks on his former party.

據(jù)說接替沃頓的可能競爭者名單上最令人驚訝的名字之一是克里斯·斯基德莫爾,這位前保守黨能源大臣于今年1月從政府辭職,最近一直在公開抨擊他的前政黨。

Skidmore was once the universities minister and is respected in the sector. Other names suggested to the Observer by a range of well-connected figures in higher education include David Bell, vice-chancellor of Sunderland University and a former DfE permanent secretary.

斯基德莫爾曾任大學大臣,在該領域頗受尊敬。一些在高等教育界人脈廣泛的人士向《觀察家報》推薦的其他人選還包括桑德蘭大學副校長、前教育部常務秘書戴維·貝爾。

With 40% of universities projected to be in deficit, according to recent reports by both PricewaterhouseCoopers and the OfS, experts said this weekend there has never been a more crucial time to have a more effective and stronger regulator with clearer priorities. In 2023, a scathing report by the Lords industry and regulators committee criticised the OfS, which had intervened on Conservative pet causes, including free speech and “l(fā)ow value” courses, for being driven by the “ebb and flow of short-term political priorities and media headlines”. Prof Steve West, vice-chancellor of the University of the West of England, who stepped down from the OfS board when he served as president of Universities UK, said: “This is the OfS’s most critical moment. It has a very serious job to do protecting students and the reputation of UK higher education.”

根據(jù)普華永道和英國金融服務辦公室最近的報告,預計40%的大學將出現(xiàn)赤字。專家們本周末表示,現(xiàn)在是建立一個更有效、更強大、優(yōu)先事項更明確的監(jiān)管機構的關鍵時刻了。2023年,英國上議院產(chǎn)業(yè)和監(jiān)管委員會發(fā)布了一份措辭嚴厲的報告,批評學生辦公室受“短期政治優(yōu)先事項和媒體頭條的潮起潮落”驅動,對保守黨喜歡的事業(yè)(包括言論自由和“低價值”課程)進行了干預。西英格蘭大學副校長史蒂夫·韋斯特教授在擔任英國大學聯(lián)合會主席期間退出了學生辦公室董事會,他說:“這是學生辦公室最關鍵的時刻。保護學生和英國高等教育的聲譽是一項非常嚴肅的工作。”

When West was on the board, he said discussions about how to protect students at universities that looked financially unstable were more manageable because they typically involved one or two universities. “The difference now is the sheer scale of what they are facing. If you’ve got a large number of institutions at risk and posting deficits, that is a far bigger systemic issue,” he said.

韋斯特說,當他還是董事會成員時,關于如何保護那些看起來財務不穩(wěn)定的大學學生的討論更容易管理,因為這些討論通常涉及一到兩所大學。“現(xiàn)在的不同之處在于他們所面臨的問題的規(guī)模。如果有大量機構面臨風險并出現(xiàn)赤字,那將是一個更大的系統(tǒng)性問題。”
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More than 50 universities are making job and budget cuts in response to a drop-off in overseas students and a decade-long freeze in the £9,250 a year fees paid by UK students. The Russell Group has estimated that English universities lost an average of £2,500 a student a year in 2022-23 and without a change in policy this will increase to £5,000 a student a year by 2029-30.

英國50多所大學正在裁員和削減預算,以應對海外學生數(shù)量的下降,以及被凍結了10年不漲的英國學生每年9250英鎊的學費。羅素集團估計,在2022-23年期間,英國大學平均每年損失每個學生2500英鎊,如果不改變政策,到2029-30年,這一數(shù)字將增加到每年5000英鎊。

Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute thinktank, said: “When this many universities are projected to be in deficit, you can’t say: ‘This is a market and some institutions will have to go,’ because there is a serious risk of a domino effect.”

智庫高等教育政策研究所主管尼克·希爾曼表示:“當這么多大學預計將出現(xiàn)赤字時,你不能說:‘這是一個市場,一些機構將不得不退出,’因為存在多米諾骨牌效應的嚴重風險。”

He warned that if one university went under, lenders would “start calling in their debts left right and centre”. Hillman added: “It was inevitable that Lord Wharton had to go. It was an extraordinary appointment for political reasons.”

他警告說,如果一所大學破產(chǎn),貸款機構將“開始收回他們的債務”。希爾曼補充說:“沃頓勛爵不得不離開是不可避免的。出于政治原因,這是一次非同尋常的任命?!?/b>

Chris Millward, professor of practice in education policy at Birmingham University and former director for fair access at the OfS, said the regulator now had a key role to play in “not only forecasting risk but also managing it”.

伯明翰大學教育政策實踐教授、學生辦公室前公平準入主管克里斯·米爾沃德表示,該監(jiān)管機構現(xiàn)在“不僅在預測風險方面,而且在管理風險方面”發(fā)揮著關鍵作用。

He added that although the OfS was supposed to protect the interests of students: “If a university goes bust, the implications will be much wider.”

他補充說,盡管學生辦公室本應保護學生的利益,但“如果一所大學破產(chǎn),其影響將會廣泛得多?!?/b>

A spokesperson for the DfE said the process to appoint an interim chair was under way with a permanent replacement announced “in due course”. SheIt added: “It is important that we have a sustainable higher education funding system that provides opportunities, supports students and maintains the world-leading status of our universities.”

英國教育部的一位發(fā)言人表示,任命臨時主席的程序正在進行中,“在適當?shù)臅r候”將宣布永久替代人選。她補充說:“重要的是,我們要有一個可持續(xù)的高等教育資助體系,為學生提供機會,支持學生,保持我們大學的世界領先地位?!?br />