OfS cuts ‘catastrophic’, says UCU
The DfE also clarified funding should be prioritised to high-cost subject courses for strategically important subjects such as; nursing, midwifery and allied health; and very high-cost STEM subjects
The University and College Union (UCU) has called the latest government cuts to higher education as “catastrophic”.
The union was responding to the slashing of the Office for Students’ strategic priorities grant and capital funding.
The news comes as the Department for Education has provided The Office for Students (OfS) with guidance on how to allocate £1.348bn of funding in 2025-26. This represents a reduction in the funding available to the OfS of £108m, compared with 2024-25.
The DfE also clarified funding should be prioritised to high-cost subject courses for strategically important subjects such as; nursing, midwifery and allied health; and very high-cost STEM subjects.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady said: “Slashing over £100m from the OfS priority fund, alongside an effective £84m cut to capital spending, would be ruinous at the best of times, but coming on top of Labour’s repeated attacks on international students, this could be catastrophic for more financially vulnerable universities.
“Our union is fighting hard to protect jobs, courses and student provision, and where we have received support from politicians, such as in the Senedd, we have saved vital courses like nursing. But the Labour government in Westminster has failed to take the bold action needed to protect the sector. The small increase in tuition fees is barely a sticking plaster and fails to address the crisis’ root causes. Unless Keir Starmer shows leadership, the sector will crumble. He must stop the decay that began under the Tories, provide financial support, save jobs, and work with us to prevent vice-chancellors from making reckless cuts.”