News reported in The Times today suggests that Oxford University is planning to cut over a thousand British student places and increase those for foreign students as it battles to handle its financial deficit. A university report indicated that Oxford had faced a £95m deficit in teaching and research activity during 2003 and a £20m deficit in running costs that was covered by profits from the Oxford University Press.
The university’s paper calculated the cost of educating an undergraduate at £18,600 per year, with the university receiving only £9,500 from the government. The introduction of £3,000 variable fees for British undergraduates “will only make a small dent in the loss per student”, according to the report.
Fearing its world status declining, the university is considering cutting undergraduate numbers by a thousand and engaging in a recruitment campaign to increase the portion of foreign students from 8% to 15% within a decade, resulting in the loss of about 1,600 British student places.
Oxford’s situation mirrors that of Imperial College where in 2002 the Rector proposed introducing £10,000 fees for home undergraduate students to help deal with the deficit Imperial faces on teaching.
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