More than a third of universities reported operating deficits last year, according to sector data, as the new government settles into office. In an open letter published on 22 July, Universities UK President Professor Malcolm Press and Chief Executive Vivienne Stern set out a measured request for greater predictability in the policy environment that shapes their work.
The correspondence, sent shortly after Andy Burnham assumed the premiership, deliberately avoided a lengthy list of demands despite the financial pressures facing institutions. Instead the two leaders offered a commitment from the sector and asked ministers to work with them to maintain universities as effective national assets.
We wrote you a long list of the things we want from you. We have decided not to send it, despite all of the pressures our sector is facing. Instead, we want to make a promise. Universities UK will work every day to ensure that our universities serve the needs of the nation. Please work with us to keep them that way.
That promise is paired with specific requests. The letter calls for predictability and policy stability, particularly in funding, regulation and international student recruitment. It urges the government to join up policy across departments and to speak about the sector in terms that reflect its strategic importance rather than its shortcomings.
Give us a bit of predictability and policy stability, particularly in relation to funding, regulation and international student recruitment. Join up policy across government. Challenge us for sure, but talk this sector up, not down.
Universities UK describes its members as national strategic assets serving the four nations of the United Kingdom. The letter positions them as institutions capable of advancing economic growth, social mobility and regional development when given a consistent operating environment. In return the sector has offered concrete steps to improve graduate employment outcomes, increase university investment in skills and create clearer pathways from study into work.
The approach reflects a preference for evidence-based stability over repeated rounds of reform that have characterised higher education policy in recent years. Frequent changes in funding models, migration rules and regulatory expectations have made long-term planning difficult for institutions that must balance teaching, research and regional economic roles. For students and their families such uncertainty translates into variable course provision and inconsistent support for graduate transitions.
Burnham’s recent cabinet appointments, including the retention of several education and home affairs ministers, provide an early test of whether the new administration will favour continuity in these areas. The letter arrives at a moment when the sector is already engaged in discussions about sustainability, graduate employability and the balance between domestic and international recruitment.
