As you might expect there has been plenty of comment and coverage of the HEFCE funding announcement on Monday.
The UCU has hit out at the cuts, saying that they, "coupled with regressive student funding policies, would shatter the dreams of thousands of potential students the government had actively encouraged to apply to university". Sally Hunt, General Secretary of UCU said "the government has spectacularly failed to understand that massive funding cuts will have a massive impact. The sector simply cannot do more for less".
Universities UK takes issue with the uncertainty and lack of clarity with which the government is unveiling its plan for the sector, with the figures announced on monday including deeper cuts than were previously indicated. Professor Steve Smith, President of UUK said that"while HEFCE has done an admirable job of making difficult decisions, the continued uncertainty about the nature and scale of the cuts puts a real additional pressure on universities’ ability to plan effectively".
Wes Streeting, President of the NUS clearly didn't get the memo about hyperbole last week, saying that the funding cuts were "an extraordinary act of self-harm" by the government, although he goes on to explain that "investing in universities and students is absolutely vital in order to secure our economic recovery."
Sir Alan Langlands, Chief Executive of HEFCE also agrees, albeit slightly more subtely, by ending the funding announcement on Monday with the words; "UK higher education generates nearly £60 billion for the economy with a multiplier effect of 3:1 from public investment. It clearly makes sense for the Government to take full account of this in setting priorities for the effective use of public funding in future spending rounds".
Finally, a few people have started a guessing game of how many students will actually miss out on university this year as a result of the cuts, with a wide range of numbers being put forward. The Independent go with 'up to 200,000', Professor Steve Smith of UUK claims 'more than 200,000', and Professor David Green, vice-chancellor at Worcester says the figure could be as high as 300,000, although it's not made clear how he arrived at that number.