University finances in the UK are already declining, even before the COVID-19 epidemic.
Government trying to sustain university finances
There is a growing concern over the future of UK university finances as soon as the COVID-19 pandemic clears out in the UK. Right before the epidemic hit Europe, several universities in the UK are already declaring a decline of patrons coming from the international community.
When COVID-19 hit, campus lodging and rentals were among the first that suffered from the loss of international students. Revenue immediately declined, accompanied by the uncertainty of gaining back their international patrons.
Most of the students coming from overseas in the UK are from Asia, and mostly Chinese. With the stigma created by the COVID-19 pandemic on Chinese people, there is also this fear in students to study abroad once schools reopen. Many might opt to avail of international universities with branches in mainland China.
The UK government is offering financial assistance to most of the top universities affected by the loss of university finances. Which it makes it sound like that not all will be saved from this financial crisis.
Chinese international students contribute big time
For the past years, enrollment numbers from Chinese students grew as much as 62 percent and made a huge impact not just in the university finances aspect but also with the community within the campuses.
With the COVID-19 still without a vaccine, most of these international students will opt to stay at their countries in the meantime, which means a huge chunk of overseas enrollees will be reduced when universities reopen in the UK.
In order for universities to cope up with their budget allocations, certain areas should be revamped, such as the following:
- Marketing and Advertising: School beautification and ads to attract students should be minimized for the time being. It will be quite obvious that returning students will be their best go-to option for now, and advertising will not make such an impact right after this pandemic.
- Courses with low employment rate: Courses that are not in demand and efficient should be scrapped for the meantime, to make space for more budget in much more in-demand areas.
