Medical and engineering courses are at risk as universities look to cut costs, the sector has warned.
Vivienne Stern, chief executive of trade body Universities UK, told The i Paper more courses will close if the Government does not step in to help universities tackle financial pressures.
Universities are also starting to increase class sizes and student-to-teacher ratios to reduce the cost of delivering their courses, as well as cutting module options on programmes, which is leaving students with fewer choices as they complete their degrees, she warned.
The sector has already faced widespread redundancies and course closures over the last year in the face of growing financial pressure.
Universities have collectively announced 15,000 job cuts in the last year, new analysis from the University and College Union has found.
UCU members will vote on potential UK-wide strike action later this month following a 1.4 per cent pay offer made over the summer, which threatens to disrupt students’ education.
To tackle financial difficulties, Ms Stern said universities could cut support for students with special educational needs or those who are less prepared and may be struggling.
Courses that could face cuts are those that cost more to deliver, which include nursing, medicine, lab-based subjects like chemistry and engineering, creative disciplines and foreign languages, she said.
“The higher the cost of delivery, the bigger the gap between the amount of funding that universities receive to provide that teaching and the cost of delivery. That’s going to make subjects vulnerable.”
Ms Stern added that in some of the areas where the Government is most keen to see expansion, there is a constraint on the supply of places “because the cost and income don’t add up”.
It is already becoming difficult for undergraduates to find courses on modern foreign languages due to widespread course closures.
Ms Stern said universities do not want to cut jobs but have had to make these difficult decisions but have faced budget challenges due to tuition fee freezes, high inflation pushing up costs and a fall in international student numbers due to the tightening of visa rules.
Four in 10 English universities are now believed to be in financial deficit, according to the Office for Students.
The Government said it had taken the “tough but necessary decision” to increase tuition fees last year in order to boost income for universities, and would soon set out further plans for reforms in new legislation.
But universities want to see tuition fees increase as well as public funding from the Government increase.
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Last month, the Government announced plans to fund student maintenance grants via a tax on international students, which Ms Stern warned would cost universities millions if implemented.
Jo Grady, general secretary of the University College Union, said: “The 15,000 jobs and 4,000 courses being axed by vice-chancellors show the sector is in crisis and the government needs to step in now to stop universities going to the wall.
“Meanwhile, vice-chancellors must stop wasting money on vanity projects and instead protect staff and students.”
She criticised the decision of some universities to open campuses in other countries while cutting jobs in the UK and closing down courses.
During his official visit to Mumbai this week, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced plans to establish nine British university campuses in India.
Cash-strapped universities are establishing overseas campuses like their UK private school counterparts as they look for ways out of their funding crisis.
Last year, Southampton became the first UK university granted a licence by the Indian government to establish a comprehensive campus in the country, charging annual fees of 13,20,000 INR or about £12,000.
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