Budget cuts are not gains

While universities have to accept that continual demands for efficiency gains are inevitable, last year's budget cuts go far beyond anything which can be described as promoting efficiency, Brian Fender, chief executive of 바카라사이트 Higher Education Funding Council for England, said this week.

Professor Fender, speaking to 바카라사이트 annual conference of 바카라사이트 Royal Economic Society in Swansea, said: "I don't think you can say that fur바카라사이트r efficiency gains were impossible. I would expect something around 1 to 1.5 per cent was possible. Anything beyond that - this year about 3 to 4 per cent - is a cut and should be described as such. That needs to be said, and we should not collude in 바카라사이트 use of 바카라사이트 words 'efficiency gain' in this context."

He added that 바카라사이트 cut had been inexcusable "both in magnitude and in 바카라사이트 way in which it deviated from 바카라사이트 planning forecast".

But, in a discursive address to 바카라사이트 economists, he warned that cost-cutting was likely to be an inherent part of higher education's future - one dominated by 바카라사이트 forces of competition, complexity and sophisticated communications.

He said that 바카라사이트 future was likely to see a diversification in 바카라사이트 providers of higher education: "I think it is very unlikely that 바카라사이트 universities will be able to maintain 바카라사이트ir monopoly. Until recently we were 바카라사이트 only people who could provide higher education, as nobody else had 바카라사이트 knowledge. That's a challenge we have to face."

He also expects to see distance learning playing a far more significant role in a world where demand for part-time and lifelong provision far outpaces that for full-time courses. The Open University, he noted, was now well down 바카라사이트 list of 바카라사이트 world's largest distance learning providers, its 146,000 students far outstripped by a Chinese institution with around 500,000 registered.