Phil Sykes – University of Liverpool

ASA Conference 2011

UK university libraries have suffered, and will suffer, sharp reductions in funding

Publishers still appear minded to charge high price rises

“All changed, changed utterly”

Short term (next three years): all bleak for all of us

Medium term (three to seven years): all bleak for most of us.

Long term............Distant points of light for some.

Recommended no cap on fees (but with a sort of graduated tax on fees above £6,000)

Recommended moving away from central determination of student numbers and allowing aggregate national student numbers to rise by 10%

Would have been good for universities (and publishers) financially

Massive reduction in teaching and student support budget (£2.9bn, 40%), leading to c80% cut in teaching grant and no government funding for non-STEM subjects

Fees lifted to between £6k and £9k, but only to go above £6k in “exceptional circumstances”. (Need about £7,500-£8000 to make up for reduction in teaching grant)

Consultation on the student numbers issue, but looks like open competition for a fixed aggregate number of students will be allowed

Flat cash for research = 9-10% real term cut at 2.5% inflation

44% reduction in capital by 2014-15 Other cuts – e.g. in NHS spending – are

bound to impact upon H.E.

Reductions in funding all round apart from £9k fee

Only a minority of institutions likely to charge £9k fee, because of

Reasons of principle Pricing themselves into the market Government compulsion

Most of the minority that charge £9k likely to lose out through greater selectivity in research funding

All bleak for all of us because of the “Valley of death”

Funding reductions take place straight away

But ameliorating effect of increased student fees only kicks in gradually

In the noughties, overall real terms funding for universities was growing

In the eighties and nineties, funding per student (the “unit of resource”) was declining but student numbers were expanding;

The ability to pay for journals is a function of overall funding, not funding per student.

Now, both funding per student and absolute levels of funding will shrink.

Journal budgets seen by universities principally as a research overhead

Changes in funding will divert money from research to improving teaching/student experience

.....and will put an end to any cross-subsidy of research from teaching budgets

So less money for research and research journals

Vice-Chancellors require libraries to tackle the ever-burgeoning journal bill

Journal bills now so large that they are a significant problem, not just for the library, but for the university as a whole

Changed attitude on the part of academics who realise that sum equivalent to 10% of QR grant goes on journals; and they make a major (free) contribution through peer-review and editorial work

Moving to all electronic?Moving to “all-in” as opposed to “opt-in” deals as the Scottish H.E institution have done?

“I’m afraid to tell you there’s no more money. Kind regards and good luck”.

(With apologies to Liam Byrne)