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£1.00 Monday 08.02.10 Published in London and Manchester guardian.co.uk

University crisis: thousands to lose jobs as funding is cut
• Staff poised to strike over proposals • Mandelson calls for belt-tightening
Jessica Shepherd Owen Bowcott
Universities across the country are preparing to axe thousands of teaching jobs,
close campuses and ditch courses to cope with government funding cuts, the Guardian
has learned. Other plans include using post-graduates rather than professors for
teaching and the delay of major building projects. The proposals have already provoked
ballots for industrial action at a number of universities in the past week raising
fears of strike action which could severely disrupt lectures and examinations. The
Guardian spoke to vice-chancellors and other senior staff at 25 universities, some
of whom condemned the funding squeeze as “painful” and “insidious”. They
warned that UK universities were being pushed towards becoming US-style, quasi-privatised
institutions. The cuts are being put in place to cope with the announcement last
week by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) that £449m –
equivalent to more than a 5% reduction nationally – would be stripped out of university
budgets. The University and College Union (UCU) believes that more than 15,000 posts
– the majority academic – could disappear in the next few years. Precise funding
figures for each university will be released on 18 March. The chairman of the Russell
Group of elite institutions, Professor Michael Arthur, vice-chancellor of Leeds University,
warned that budgets would be further slashed by 6% in each of the next three years.
Last month he described the cuts as “devastating”. The savings envisaged include:
• More than 200 jobs losses at King’s College, London, around 150 at the University
of Westminster and, unions claim, as many as 700 at Leeds, 340 at Sheffield Hallam
and 300 at Hull. • Entire campus closures at Cumbria and Wolverhampton universities,
where buildings will be mothballed and students transferred to other sites. • Teesside
University scrapping £2m worth of scholarships and bursaries that would have helped
poorer students. It will also share services with a further education college in
Darlington. • Postponing plans for a £25m creative arts building at Worcester
and £12m science block at Hertfordshire. • Under-subscribed arts and humanities
courses are being dropped. The University of the West of England has already stopped
offering French, German and Spanish; Surrey has dropped its BA in humanities. •
Student/lecturer ratios are expected to rise, with more institutions using postgraduates
and short term staff filling in for professors made redundant. Ballots for industrial
action are due to be held or are pending at the University of Sussex Arts, University
College London, the University of Gloucestershire and King’s College London. Lecturers
at Leeds – where 750 posts are at risk – voted by a large majority to strike
this week. Higher exam pass marks will be required to win a place at university,
according to the survey of academic principals. The cap on student numbers – set
at 2008 levels – is restricting entry just as youth unemployment is peaking and
intensifying competitive pressure. Peter Mandelson, the business secretary who is
in charge of universities, accused the principals of “gross exaggerations” and
“extreme language”, but would not be drawn over whether he would make further
cuts to higher education. Universities had to do “no more than their fair share
of belt-tightening,” he said. “We know that universities have a vital contribution
to our economic growth, so we are not going to undermine them. We are asking for
savings of less than 5% and we expect universities to make these in a way that minimises
the impact on teaching and students. I am confident they will.” Mandelson also
denied claims by vicechancellors that he was letting arts and humanities courses
close and cared only about maths and science degrees. On Monday it was announced
that an extra £10m would go to the teaching of science, technology, engineering
and mathematics to support universities “that are shifting the balance of their
provision towards these subjects”. Mandelson said: “I am an arts graduate

Tories plan to start deep spending cuts in 2011
Nicholas Watt Chief political correspondent
David Cameron and George Osborne are drawing up plans to impose real-terms spending
cuts that would see Britain’s public services slashed by billions of pounds during
the next parliament. Senior Tory sources have told the Guardian that the party leadership
is determined to press ahead with cuts that go dramatically further than Labour’s
plans for an overall spending freeze –already likened to a return to the 1970s
– from next year. Cameron is under pressure after declaring last week that a Tory
government would not introduce “swingeing” spending cuts in its first year in
office. Labour claimed that the Conservatives had been forced to accept the need
for continuing public spending in the face of weak economic recovery. Senior Tories
say the leadership accepts the need to act with caution in the financial year of
2010-11 which will be well under way by the time of the party’s planned emergency
budget this summer after an election victory. But Osborne is still determined to
push far-reaching, real-terms spending cuts that could be imposed as early as the
financial year starting in April 2011. The shadow chancellor believes that unless
tough action is taken to cut the record £178bn fiscal deficit, Britain could lose
its prized AAA rating. This would lead to higher borrowing rates which could push
up interest rates and stunt economic growth. One senior Tory source said: “In the
post-2011 period overall spending will decrease. It is imperative that we keep interest
rates low. That is the lodestar of the whole thing. “Whatever decisions we take
on the fiscal deficit that will be at the heart of it.” The Tories are cautious
about discussing their plans for cuts in public spending after the leadership was
unsettled by figures released last month which show that Britain is inching its
way out of recession. The economy grew by just 0.1% in the last quarter of 2009,
prompting Gordon Brown to warn that Tory plans for early action to cut spending would
jeopardise Continued on page 2 ≥


Continued on page 2 ≥

Principals warn that government belt-tightening would mean fewer course places and
higher pass marks for entrance Photograph: James Boardman/KNP

Irish dystopia or a Greek tragedy? Larry Elliott on fiscal lessons for Britain Page
26-27


Living too fast? Scientists show ageing is all in the genes
Ian Sample Science correspondent
Scientists have isolated a gene sequence that appears to determine how fast our bodies
age, the first time a link between DNA and human lifespan has been found. The discovery
could have a profound impact on public health and raises the best hope yet for drugs
that prevent the biological wear and tear behind common age-related conditions such
as heart disease and certain cancers. The work is expected to pave the way for screening
programmes to spot people who are likely to age fast and be more susceptible to heart
problems and other conditions early in life. People who test positive for the gene
variant in their 20s could be put on cholesterol-lowering statin drugs and encouraged
to exercise, eat healthily and avoid smoking. The breakthrough is unlikely to lead
to drugs that dramatically extend lifespan, but doctors say it may help prolong the
lives of patients whose genes make them susceptible to dying young. The study found
people who had the gene sequence were biologically ‘older’ than people of the
same age chronologically The research gives the kind of insight into the biology
of ageing that has not emerged from work on other strategies that claim to extend
lifespan, such as consuming vast quantities of antioxidants or pursuing a severely
calorie-restricted diet. “This may help us identify patients who are at a greater
risk of developing common age-related diseases so we can focus more attention on
them,” said Professor Nilesh Samani, a cardiologist at the University of Leicester,
who led the research. The research highlights the difference between chronological
age and biological age, the latter of which is determined by our genetic makeup and
lifestyle factors, such as diet and smoking. Two people of the same age can have
biological ages that differ by more than 10 years. A team led by Samani and Professor
Tim Spector at King’s College, London found a common sequence of DNA was strongly
linked to a person’s biological age. In a study of nearly 3,000 people, around
38% inherited one copy of the gene variant and were biologically three to four years
older than those who did not carry the sequence. A minority of 7% inherited two copies
of the DNA sequence and were on average six to seven biological years older. The
majority of the population, 55%, do not carry any copies of the variant. The study,
published in the journal Nature Genetics, was prompted by the huge variability in
the age at which people Continued on page 2 ≥