New Academy President urges Prime Minister to strengthen and champion UK’s world-leading universities as higher education crisis deepens

In her first act as the new President of The British Academy, Professor Susan J Smith FBA has written to the Prime Minister to warn that cuts and contractions are damaging the UK’s higher education system.

The letter warns that the unchecked higher education crisis is compromising research quality, putting pressure on academics, and, for the humanities and social sciences in particular, creating educational ‘cold spots’: eroding learning opportunities and skills which are crucial for the future.

The President wrote: “Our universities are a significant asset, key to unlocking aspirations and securing a resilient, productive, future. Every £1 of public money invested in the higher education sector across the UK puts £14 back into the economy.”

She also called on the Government to conduct an urgent review of higher education, to protect the UK’s research and innovation excellence, and to recognise how integral the humanities and social sciences are. She offered to convene a high-level roundtable at The British Academy to explore the actions needed to protect and enhance our universities.

Read the full letter to the Prime Minister.