Recession and the Impact on Universities

So what effect will the recession ( are we allowed to call it that yet?) have on Universities, and specifically on a Faculty like ours?

Data suggests that there has been an increase in overall applications to University for 2009-10 entry - potential students possibly realising that higher education can lead to higher earnings over a lifetime, and also recognising that 3-4 years in University may be long enough for the jobs market to get moving again.

There's a long article in the Guardian about this.

In addition to undergraduate demand, there has been an increase in demand for postgraduate awards - again from The Guardian

But what could we do as a Faculty? Here's a few suggestions:

• market our undergraduate and postgraduate provision to those in work on a part time basis as a way of upskilling
• provide postgraduate awards for those professionals who are likely to lose their jobs, and need to upskill and use a period of redundancy effectively
• look at how we can offer incentives to enter awards - again at postgraduate level, Durham and Teeside offer incentives for existing undergraduate students to take their awards (between £2000 and £2400)
• work with employers to identify the training and education that they need to ensure their survival in the current economic climate.