In the global race for technological supremacy, Britain possesses an asset that China cannot buy and America cannot replicate: a university system that combines world-class research with centuries of institutional prestige. And we are systematically undermining it.
The numbers are stark. Real-terms funding per student has fallen by 30 per cent since 2012. Research grants cover barely 70 per cent of the actual cost of the work. Our best academics are being poached by Singapore, Abu Dhabi, and American institutions offering three times the salary.
This is not just an education policy failure — it is a strategic blunder of the first order. Every major technology cluster in the world has a great university at its heart. Defund the university, and you kill the cluster.
The solution is not complicated: increase the tuition fee cap to reflect inflation, fully fund research overheads, and create competitive retention packages for star academics. The cost is modest; the alternative — watching Britain's knowledge economy wither — is catastrophic.
