After George Osborne, the coalition government’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced the emergency budget, academics began to protest vigorously about public sector cuts. In spite of the protection of the National Health Service and schools and military spending, Professor Steve Smith, the President of Universities UK, asked the politicians not to increase the capacity of universities with the purpose of overcoming the economical crisis. The universities will see an extra tax burden as the value added tax will increase up to 20% from 17.5%. In his custom essay , the chancellor claimed that Universities UK recognizes the necessity to restrain public spending that may contribute much to the recovery from depression.
A concern is that universities may face a ‘double-whammy’ as a result of spending cuts and tax increases while a VAT increase may undermine the efforts of university leaders to implement projects aimed at cost-saving cooperation. As Smith says, in result of increase of tax combined with funding cuts, universities will not be able to provide necessary number of places in universities and this would undermine the coalition agreement’s commitment to social mobility. Such cuts will make the efforts of poor people to enter universities vain. Dr Wendy Piatt, Director General of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities, says: “We sincerely hope this government recognizes the vital role that leading research-intensive universities play in boosting the economy and improving quality of life and does not subject higher education to cuts of the truly alarming magnitude of 25%.”