latest trends in university funding
TRANSCRIPT
Thomas Estermann
Director Funding, Governance and Public Policy Development
European University Association
Porto
6 October 2016
Latest trends in University Funding
EUA Sources
» Annual monitoring of trends in public funding since 2008
» 30 higher education systems
» Midterm review of European fundingprogramms
» Campaign on sufficent, sustainable andsimple funding
Latest trends in public funding
Cuts on all
fronts
Higher costs
for students
Stronger
competition
for EU money
More
efficiency
Less money
for teaching &
infrastructure
More
performance-
based
funding
Stress test
for the
frontrunners
Growing
differences
between the
systems
Focus
• Recent changes and outlook
• Challenges and Impact
• Long-term funding trends
2015/2016 changes
Growth TR (27%), AT (9%), IS (7%), HR (6%), NO (6%), ES (3%), BE-fr (2%), PT (2%), DE (2%)
(+1%) HU, LV, NL, SE, SK
(-1%) BL-fl, IT, PL, RS
Decline UK (2%), IE (3%), CZ (5%), SL (9%), GR (16%)
Mixed Outlook for the ‘Nordic model’
• Some of the ‘frontrunners’ in the North show a slowdown of investment or a negative outlook:
FI has been reducing funding since 2014 and inflationary increases are frozen through to 2019
DK shows negative outlook through approved cuts through 2019
Iceland has still not closed the gap accumulated in the early phase of the financial crisis
In SE the annual growth rate slipped under 1% in 2016
Norway increases 5.6% in 2016, following a temporary slowdown in 2015 year
Challenges
• Year on year fluctuations make rational strategic planning for universities very difficult
• Discrepancies are growing between the systems in the EHEA and ERA
• Reduction in infrastructure investment reduces competitiveness
• Growing expectations from European Funding which is under pressure
Impacted areas
Teaching ▪ DK reduction 2%/year
till 2019▪ NL efficency cuts▪ Decline in funding per
student in UK and IE
▪ NO and SE increase
in funding per student
Research ▪ DK reduction of funding
1.09 % to 1.01% of GDP as of 2016▪ IE Programme for
Research in 3rd Level Institution has declined by approx. 80%
▪ CZ, PL, SI, SE and
UK safeguard or even increase their research budgets
Impacted areas
Infrastructure ▪ Several countries
reduce investment and expect institutions to fund from other sources, even countries like SE
Staff ▪ Layoffs, lower
replacement rates and reduced benefits (e.g., DK, FI, IE, IT,..)
▪ Pay rises in LV and
SK and staff replacement ratio stabilisation in ES
Shifting costs to students
• In 2016, several countries introduced or discussed higher tuition fees for non-EU/EEA students:
FI will charge tuition fees for non-EU/EEA students enrolled in English-taught BA and MA programmes from 2017/2018
Tuition fees for non-EU/EEA students might go up to EUR 12,525 per year in BE-fr(current max. of EUR 4175)
New provisions in CH will allow Swiss universities to charge foreign students significantly higher tuition fees
Discussions on introduction of tuition fees for undergraduate students in IE.
• Support for domestic students is reduced in some systems England expansion of loans and abolition of student support for living costs
• Only ES has reported minor increase in funding for students through scholarships in 2016.
Growing competition for limited European funds
• Pressure on universities to increase funding from EU sources
• The amount of EU funding attracted by a university is one of the elements of performance-based funding in many systems.
• Universities find it increasingly hard to obtain EU grants given the oversubscription of EU programmes and record low success rate (e.g., ca. 14% in first 100 calls of H2020).
• Reduced public funding for universities affects their ability to keep up the investment in top research staff, support services and infrastructure and thus compete successfully for European funding.
• Universities might gradually lose their attractiveness as partners for consortia and collaboration networks, which grow in importance.
Performance-based funding and efficiency
• Governments pay closer attention to performance-based funding, efficiency measures and a more active use of output indicators:
Graduate employability is gaining importance in DK and SI
Additional funds were allocated for PBF in Latvia
Efficiency cuts are implemented in NL to reduce indirect cost coverage and optimise academic offer.
• EUA’s project USTREAM aims to explore measures pursued by universities across Europe in order to enhance efficiency.
A key success factor for efficiency of higher education institutions is …
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PollEv.com/fundingforum
Long-term funding trends
Key factor Inflation
Inflation rate between 2008 and 2015
(*) Data partly sourced from the World Bank
Long-term funding trends
Key factor student numbers
• Growth in 10 systems
• Decline in 8 systems
• Decline in particular
in Eastern Europe
• Growth in particular in
North and West, and
Turkey
NB: Growth in Turkey +285%
Long-term funding trends
Key factor economic growth
Evolution in public funding to higher education institutions as a percentage of GDP between
2008 and 2015
Long-term public funding trends (2008-2015) I
• Public funding to universities was growing in 11 systems.
• In 7 systems student numbers were growing faster than public funding.
• Frontrunners NO and SE
• PT and PL cuts before 2008 and lower funding base
• Rest are systems under pressurewww.eua.be/activities-services/projects/eua-online-
tools/public-funding-observatory-tool.aspx
Long-term public funding trends (2008-2015)
• Public funding to universities declined in 13 systems in Europe
• On top of the funding cuts, in 7 systems the student numbers were growing
• In 6 systems the decline in funding was faster than the decline in the student body
• England special case through tuition fee increase
What is needed
• Universities, national and European policy makers need to work closer together and openly discuss and address problems
• Funding needs to be aligned with expectations
• More focus on communicating that universities help addressing Europe’s challenges like integration, social and economic crises, youth unemployment and unprecedented migration flows
• Show universities’ direct economic impact and contributions to society
• Reduce growing funding gap between the systems
Exchange and Input
Sufficient, sustainable and simple funding for
efficient universities
POLL RESULTS
https://www.polleverywhere.com/free_text_polls/q8fRofmYxYFVVke?preview=true
University Efficiency Focus Group Session:
TODAY At 17.45 – 18.30
Room: Sala -2 Level -2
Public funding
observatory report
online now
Contact:
www.eua.be
@ThomasEstermann / @euatweets