UK: Devolution creates university funding gap

Universities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland could be threatened as fee-charging institutions in England grow ever larger, a report warned last week. The study by the vice-chancellors' group, Universities UK, warned of the possible impact of devolution on diverging higher education policies within the UK, writes Anthea Lipsett in The Guardian.

Although higher education is growing in all four parts of the UK, England has started to move markedly ahead in research funding, student numbers and international student income, it found.

The main difference in higher education policies is the tuition-fee regime. "The effect of the introduction of deferred variable fees will be to increase substantially the resources available to institutions in England compared with Scotland and, to a lesser extent, with Wales," the report found.
Full report on The Guardian site