THE latest independent research into the funding of UK universities predicts "grim implications" in return for the millions of pounds spent on "bean-counting" – as it shows that higher education (HE) delivers far higher economic benefits to society than financial ones.
The preliminary research, conducted by Viewforth Consulting Ltd, calculated the economic rather than accounting value of UK HE and found continued financial instability with increasing numbers of institutions teetering on the brink of insolvency caused by a "failure of policy and imagination" and a "sectoral and government preoccupation with accounting issues rather than economic reality".
