Addressing the immediate challenges facing our universities and their students UK universities now incur losses of £6bn annually on their core activities of research and teaching for UK home students. Our members are making significant changes to adjust to financial pressures, including major restructuring and transformation programmes. Recent analysis by PwC demonstrates that all universities […]
With the latest UCAS data showing applications are down for medicine, nursing and midwifery courses, leaders from the higher education sector are calling for a new taskforce to effectively deliver NHS England’s Long-Term Workforce Plan. In a jointly-written letter sent to the Secretaries of State for Education and Health, a coalition of university mission groups […]
Vanessa Wilson, CEO of University Alliance, has commented in response to the latest UCAS application data, released today (15 January): On the decline of applications for public sector workforce courses, Vanessa Wilson, CEO of University Alliance, said: “The continued decline in applications for subjects like teaching, nursing and midwifery spell trouble for the future of […]
In a letter to the The Times, University Alliance CEO Vanessa Wilson responds to the Times’ Health Commission. ‘Sir, The ten recommendations of The Times Health Commission are timely, necessary and sensible. Your ninth point makes the case for NHS staff to take part in research, proposing that 20 per cent of hospital consultants and […]
International student numbers have been growing in the UK as part of a government strategy to grow education export income for the UK, provide financial sustainability for universities without increasing the contribution of taxpayers or UK students, and ensure our country remains globally connected. Universities have supported this strategy both because we believe in the power of […]
This article was originally published in Wonkhe. Working alongside the NHS requires universities to constantly be adapting. The relationship between universities and the health and social care sector can be described as evolutionary. For decades, nurses were trained directly on wards, with schools of nursing traditionally hosted by individual hospitals. Training began to move towards […]
On Thursday 25 January, the government announced that maintenance loan payments would rise by 2.5% from September 2024 for students in England. On Friday 26th, the Department for Education released its Equality Impact Assessment for HE student finance in 2024/25, which looked at the impact of the proposed changes. In our latest briefing, we highlight […]
In a letter to the Financial Times, University Alliance CEO Vanessa Wilson talks about what’s missing in the conversations about the current challenges facing the higher education sector. “Robert Shrimsley’s piece on the crisis in higher education (Opinion, January 18) summarises the financial challenges facing universities in England well. There’s something missing however in the […]
The Office for Students has announced a £12 million investment in degree apprenticeships in England, with over £2m allocated to Alliance universities. Vanessa Wilson, CEO of University Alliance said in response to the announcement: “It’s great to see eight University Alliance members awarded funding to expand their degree apprenticeship offer. Alliance universities have long been […]
Responding to the release of the UCAS sector level end-of-cycle data today, University Alliance CEO Vanessa Wilson said: On the drop in acceptances for nursing courses: “Whilst it is heartening to see acceptances are up 2% for midwifery courses, it is worrying that acceptances for nursing courses are down 11% on 2022 levels. The future of […]