University students in England get just two-thirds of the funding they would have received a decade ago, after inflation and government cuts have reduced the resources available for teaching, according to vice-chancellors.
University leaders said the situation was likely to get worse if the government went ahead with a new levy on international student fees in Wednesday’s budget.
Analysis by Universities UK (UUK), which represents higher education leaders, found that today’s undergraduates get a combined £6.4bn less spent in real terms than those who took the same degrees in 2015-16.
The figures explain why many universities in England are struggling with budget deficits, as their income from domestic tuition fees has fallen behind rising costs, leaving them heavily reliant on income from international students.
Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, allowed annual tuition fees to rise in the current academic year to £9,535, the first increase for more than a decade, and announced that the fees would rise in line with inflation for the next two years, making undergraduate fees likely to be about £9,900 a year in autumn 2026.
But Vivienne Stern, UUK’s chief executive, said the government’s decision to add a new levy on international student fees would leave many universities even worse off.
While the inflation-linked rise in tuition fees is expected to increase funding by £440m each year, the new tax on international fees is expected to remove £780m in annual revenue.
Stern said: “The decision to increase fees in England in line with inflation was brave, and the right thing to do. It is beyond disappointing that the government plans to remove more than the amount this will bring into universities through a new tax on international students.
“That is the opposite of helpful, taking us further away from the goal of financial stability, which we need to play our full part in delivering the government’s missions.”
Joanna Burton, the head of higher education policy at the Russell Group of leading universities, said: “The government must recognise these challenges and rethink the proposed international student levy, a tax on universities that would add further burdens and restrict investment in students, research and communities.”
The UUK analysis looked at tuition fees and direct government grants and found that funding for each student for teaching in 2025-26 was just 64% of the level it was in 2015-16, after accounting for inflation.
UUK’s survey of its member institutions earlier this year found 49% had closed courses and 18% closed departments entirely, with 80% saying they were considering cuts in research spending.
Among recent announcements, the universities of Nottingham and Leicester are to decide on closing a swath of courses, including modern foreign language degrees, while Bradford University is closing its chemistry and biomedical sciences courses as well as its highly regarded film and television courses. One in three universities have forecast financial deficits for the current academic year.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We have taken action to put the sector on a secure financial footing, including committing to raise the maximum cap on tuition fees annually and refocusing the Office for Students to support universities to face the challenges of the future.”
