HE Funding 2024: Where Next?

Tuesday 10th December 2024
9:30 am - 3:00pm
Virtual Conference

This Conference will offer an opportunity to deep-dive into the next steps in addressing the funding crisis in higher education and how providers can manage planning on financial sustainability.

The Conference will:

  • Dissect what the 2024 Spending Review means for higher education

  • Evaluate the next steps for providers on financial planning and sustainability

  • Explore the routes to a long-term solution on the financial model for higher education

  • Examine the approach of the Office for Students in managing financial risk and preventing disorderly market exits

Headline Speakers

The Rt Hon Lord Willetts
President, Resolution Foundation
Former Minister of State for Universities and Science

Professor Jenny Higham
Vice Chancellor
St George’s, University of London

Mark Corver
Founding and Managing Director
dataHE

Kate Ogden
Senior Research Economist
Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)

Agenda

09:30 am

Morning Chair: Welcome Address

Ian Turgoose
Head of External Engagement
Sheffield Hallam University (CONFIRMED)

09:40 am

Leaders’ Panel Discussion: The Big Questions Ahead on Financial Sustainability

  • The immediate crisis facing the sector: examining the risk of widespread deficits and the potential of bankruptcies and market exits

  • The funding gap that needs to be closed and exploring the political realities for the government amid the Spending Review

  • The choices that lie ahead for university leaders on restructures, funding cuts and potential mergers

  • Beyond a stop gap: what are long term solutions to rethinking the funding model and preventing another cliff edge in five years?

Sarah Bevan
Head of Funding Policy
Universities UK (CONFIRMED)

The Rt Hon Lord Willetts
President, Resolution Foundation
Former Minister of State for Universities and Science (CONFIRMED)

Professor Shitij Kapur
Vice-Chancellor & President
King's College London (CONFIRMED)

Alistair Jarvis CBE
Pro Vice Chancellor (Partnerships and Governance)
University of London (CONFIRMED)

Professor Shân Wareing
Vice Chancellor
Middlesex University(CONFIRMED)

Professor Christopher Day
Vice-Chancellor and President
Newcastle University (CONFIRMED)

10:40 am

A National Conversation on Higher Education Funding – How Do We Gain Buy In Beyond the Sector?

  • Examining perceptions on the funding system in HE across key stakeholders and the wider public

  • Assessing awareness on the eroding value of tuition fees, maintenance packages and what this means for provision

  • How do we develop innovative ideas and solutions to addressing the funding crisis that can drive public support?

  • How do we rethink the way higher education is delivered and explore alterative funding solutions that can address the political concerns of government?

Professor Jenny Higham
Vice Chancellor
St George’s, University of London (CONFIRMED)

11:10 am

Break and Networking

11:30 am

Afternoon Chair: Welcome Address

Rachael Richards
Director of Public Affairs
Durham University (CONFIRMED)

11:40 am

What We Know on Student Numbers, Demand and Market Exposure

  • The demand side in 2024: Understanding the decline in student application rates and what this means for future growth

  • How success rates in 2024 can support a rebound in demand for 2025

  • Managing predictability on actual international student intakes

  • Where risks lie on international student markets in 2025

  • Understanding how universities under the greatest financial pressure are suffering from exposure to structurally declining markets

Mark Corver
Founding and Managing Director
dataHE (CONFIRMED)

12:30 pm

Break and Networking

1:30 pm

Spending Review – The Decisions Ahead of Spring 2025

  • The options available on allowing the current freeze to expire at the end of 2024/25

  • Exploring routes to increasing teaching grants to prevent tuition fee rises

  • Assessing thinking on supporting international student recruitment growth further to cover shortfalls in the sector

  • What these decisions would mean for overall public finances

  • Where decision-making on higher education funding sits within the wider choices ahead of the completion of the Spending Review

Kate Ogden
Senior Research Economist
Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) (CONFIRMED)

2:15 pm

Market Exit, Merger, Transformation Plan? What Are the Alternatives for Providers in Immediate Financial Peril?

  • The choices facing a provider that faces insolvency

  • Building a transformation plan for providers that can demonstrate to lenders future financial stability

  • When are mergers or acquisitions the best outcome?

  • Assessing when government emergency support would be needed to prevent disorderly market exits

  • Examining where orderly market exits may be required for providers that can no longer demonstrate value

Sarah Seed
Partner
Mills and Reeve (CONFIRMED)

Poppy Short
Partner
Mills and Reeve (CONFIRMED)

3:00 pm

Conference Close

*Programme subject to change

Audience

This event is designed for the higher education sector. Those in attendance will include:

  • Chief Finance Officers

  • Chief Operating Officers

  • Deputy Vice Chancellors

  • Director of Strategic Planning and Performance

  • Directors of External Relations

  • Directors of Finance

  • Directors of Policy and Engagement

  • Directors of Strategy and Insight

  • Directors of Transformation

  • Executive Deans

  • Financial Controllers

  • Heads of Governance

  • Heads of Policy

  • Heads of Scenario Planning

  • Heads of Strategy

  • Pro Vice Chancellors

  • Registrars

  • Risk Managers

  • University Secretaries

  • Vice Chancellors 

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Public Sector (HE)

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Attendance to Spending Review 2024: What Does it Mean for HE?

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Attendance to Spending Review 2024: What Does it Mean for HE?

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