Businesses 'should contribute to university funding'

Wed 10 Mar 2010

Companies in Britain should help to fund the higher education sector, the University and College Union (UCU) has stated.

According to the group, there are three main beneficiaries of university education - the state, the individual and the employer.

However, it believes the business sector is the only one of these three that is not picking up the bill.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the UCU, said businesses need to start making a "proper contribution" to university funding.

She went on to reject calls from the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) for the government to scrap its target of getting 50 per cent of young people into university.

The AGR said this week that efforts to get half of under-30s into higher education have driven down standards and devalued university degrees.

However, the UCU accused the group of being out of touch and said the economy could suffer if there are less graduates.

Andrea Squires, a partner at Winckworth Sherwood Solicitors, commented: "There are a variety of ways in which businesses can work with universities to help plug funding gaps, but it would need to be a two-way street and businesses will need to demonstrate to shareholders that they would be getting something for the investment."