Idle thoughts for a Sunday morning. HE is one of worst hit sectors in the COVID crisis & also one of those most necessary to help the country’s recovery short/long term. So what would you do if you were in Government. My thoughts on domestic UG (crap, but to start discussion)

Reduce fees for students for next year to [£7,500] to reflect COVID impact on their studies (to help shore up demand), but continue to pay universities [£9250] for those students (because their costs haven’t changed & we need to avoid drastic, destabilising cuts)

Any institution that grows its student numbers by more than [10%] from last year’s numbers will not get the top up funding on the balance above [10%] (to stop opportunistic over-recruitment at the expense of other providers).

Offer a guarantee institutions will be funded to the same level as last year irrespective of student numbers. For institutions where numbers fall by unsustainable levels, a transition plan needs to show how they will cope with return to normal funding rules the following year.

In return, set out the Government’s priorities for recovery and require institutions to offer a plan to support them. Also insist on civic agreements so that local needs are met.