Prof. Dr. Heather Eggins

Each month brings further uncertainties, of both a global and national kind, which affect higher education. The global economic outlook is by no means stable, and the coronavirus and climate change are adding to uncertainties.

UK universities have found themselves caught up in changed, and unexpected circumstances, following the decision of the 2016 referendum to leave the European Union. Not only are there uncertainties generated by Brexit, in terms of loss of academic staff, loss of European students, and loss of research funding, but also institutional financial worries and strikes in relation to pension provision, and concerns at the fierce competition for home students at a time when the 18 year old cohort reaches its lowest level, leading to fewer students than hoped for on some campuses.

This seminar examines the range of uncertainties as perceived by Vice-Chancellors and Chairs of University Councils who are tasked with maintaining and assuring the financial stability of their institutions. It examines the strategic decisions institutions have been forced to make, and the ways in which university Councils have responded to the challenges of their present situation.

Heather Eggins is a Fellow Commoner at Lucy Cavendish College, University of Cambridge and Visiting Professor at Sussex University and Staffordshire University UK. She works on higher education policy and is particularly interested in the impact of government decisions on higher education, access issues, quality, and gender. Her latest publications are H. Eggins, editor, The Changing Role of Women in Higher Education (Springer 2017 ), and  a chapter in L. Weimar and T. Nokkala, editors, Universities as Political Institutions – HEIs in the Middle of Academic, Economic and Social Pressures (Brill 2019).