Universities are to see £270m pumped into modernising and upgrading their services to make 20,000 more places available in 2010/11, but tough times are also on the horizon in higher education.

Chancellor Alistair Darling’s pre-election Budget revealed that Labour want to strengthen their offer to young people and boost the number of degree places.

Subjects such as science, technology, engineering and maths will be targeted in the new plans, which Darling said are part of an investment which has been “unprecedented”.

But, it’s not all good news for the education sector, as universities will be required to make massive cuts whilst still trying to improve expertise.

Darling announced: “Universities must make efficiency
savings while focussing their funds rigorously on quality
teaching and on research, and we are determined to
achieve this without damaging key skills in our economic
strengths.”

Over three years, £250m will be spent to provide 10,000
more full time honours degree places, 5,000 more part
time honours degree places and 5,000 more foundation
degree places.

A further £20m will be used to identify and implement
efficiency cutbacks.

According to the Funding Council, this promise for
admissions in September offsets the 6,000 fewer places
that were to be available, had the grant not been awarded.

This means 14,000 more applicants should be successful
in 2010, from last year’s intake.

The National Union of Students welcomed the funding as a
“lifeline” from the government at a time of unprecedented demand, though the lecturers’ union raised concerns that it could have an adverse effect on the quality of teaching.

General Secretary, Sally Hunt, said: "Extra places for students should be a cause for celebration, but with jobs at risk in both universities and colleges, we will inevitably see larger class sizes and increased workloads for staff who survive the cull. Anyone who doesn't think this will lead to a drop in the quality of education is sadly misguided."

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