Impact of DEL Budget
Higher education
- Under the agreed DEL Budget, direct funding to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) - Queen’s University Belfast, the University of Ulster, Stranmillis and St Mary’s University Colleges - will suffer a substantial recurrent budget cut of £68m by 2014-15. If the cut is applied in full to the HEIs it will represent a reduction of 30% in the direct annual public investment in higher education from £230m to £162m.
- To impose the full 30% cuts on the HEIs will have devastating effects on the quality and capacity of the universities and university colleges. A cut of this level will result in the HEIs in Northern Ireland losing their competitive advantage across these islands and no longer being in a position to underpin the local economic infrastructure and support the strategic priorities set out in the Programme for Government.
Economy - A cut of £68m is equivalent to removing £350m per annum from our economy by 2014. Inevitably there will be significant job losses, on academic and support staff, on jobs associated with research grants and contracts, and indirect impacts through the multiplier in the economy – direct job losses in the sector could be as high as 1,300, while the full direct and indirect impact would at least double this number.
- Such depletion in the existing skills base and internationally recognised research infrastructure will result in Northern Ireland being unable to attract and retain high-tech, high-value, inward investment – the strategic priority of a dynamic knowledge economy will be put at risk.
Queen's - Within Queen’s we estimate the effects of a cut of this level to be equivalent to direct job losses of the order of 750 (out of 3,600) across all categories of staff.
- This will lead to the closure of academic departments and courses; reduced student/staff ratios and contact hours; reduction in student support services; restrictions on core facilities such as the library, sports facilities, Students’ Union, and the International and Postgraduate Centre; reduced investment in teaching and research facilities; and student retention problems.
- Queen’s will no longer be able to attract or retain world class academic staff, nor will it be the top destination for high achieving students, both locally and internationally. This will seriously impact on the sustainability of world class facilities at Queen’s such as the Centre for Cancer Research and Cell Biology at the Belfast City Hospital site and on the Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology (ECIT) and the Centre for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT) located in the Northern Ireland Science Park.
Students - Sustained underinvestment in the NI higher education sector will result in a second rate university system. The most talented school leavers will increasingly opt to study outside of Northern Ireland and this ‘brain drain’ will have a long term negative impact on the economy and wider society.
- Resources will not allow the current broad portfolio of subjects to continue to be offered and this will inevitably lead to substantial rationalisation with Northern Ireland students unable to access provision locally.
- Northern Ireland’s proud record as a region where students from all backgrounds have fair access to a local world class higher education is under threat and our current success in securing fair participation will be undermined if current levels of investment are not maintained.