'It's a dangerous time': can UK and US universities survive funding cuts?

The vice-chancellor of the University of California and the University of Bristol’s leader on how universities are threatened by policy and funding changes

Vice-chancellors in Britain are united in the view that this is the most challenging time to run a university in modern history. They are fighting to limit the damage of Brexit, which they fear will hit their recruitment and retention of great staff and students, crush vital research collaboration, and remove billions of pounds of funding. They are also wrestling with the likelihood of a major cut to tuition fees, with little hope in the sector that the government will plug the gap.

Last month in the US, Donald Trump proposed significant cuts to higher education funding in his 2020 budget, including reductions to student financial aid, and big cuts to the budgets of the two biggest public funders of research, the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. This follows major cuts in the aftermath of the economic crash of 2008-9, after which many universities ramped up their fees considerably.

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from The Guardian http://bit.ly/2VaS27J