Grade deflation, overcrowding and ‘chaos’ as colleges scramble for fees

Universities in the elite Russell group took a significant proportion of UK and international students who applied to start studying this autumn, with experts saying some admissions offices dropped grade requirements further than usually expected to net more students.

With the Office for Students forecasting that nearly three-quarters of universities could be in deficit in 2025-26, and with many slashing jobs, this desire to bank more undergraduate fees is seen as unsurprising. However, academics and the  are warning that overstretched academics are being pushed to the brink.

Jo Grady, general secretary of the UCU, said: “Many universities have over-recruited domestically, leading to stuffed lecture halls and overworked staff. This can only degrade the student experience and is one of the reasons we are set to ballot UK universities.”

Dr Renata Medeiros Mirra, senior lecturer in medical statistics at Cardiff University, who also sits on the university’s UCU branch committee, said: “Already we have issues with time­tabling, and the start of some courses has been delayed. It’s chaos.”

Cardiff has lost 170 staff through voluntary redundancy, and the union understands nearly 200 more remain in line for redundancy. Dr Medeiros Mirra said she knew of academics who had left but been asked to cover gaps in teaching on casual contracts.

She has been asked to step in as personal tutor to 10 new students, but said she couldn’t possibly fit this into her overstretched part-time hours.

She added: “We honestly feel the whole institution could crash. You can’t cut and cut and then bring in extra students and even more pressure.”

Meanwhile at the University of Warwick hundreds of new first years have been placed in private student blocks in Coventry rather than in halls on the main campus. An editorial in the student newspaper said: “For students who picked Warwick for its campus atmosphere and localised accommodation, this was undoubtedly a major gut punch.”

A lecturer at Warwick, who spoke to The Observer on condition of anonymity, said staff were deeply unhappy about workloads. “We are told with no consultation that a course designed for 20 students now has to accommodate 40. That isn’t good for teaching quality.”

They added: “It’s just not feasible to meet all your tutees, prep teaching and mark, while also doing the research the university expects you to do.”

Nick Hillman, director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, said: “The hidden secret of this year’s admissions round was that there were places at Russell group universities for people with pretty low grades relative to what you’d expect.”

He added: “Having enough accommodation is a big issue; and, unless you take on lots of extra staff on temporary contracts at the last minute, you may struggle with teaching.”

Hillman said some elite universities had taken more home students to cushion themselves against an expected dip in international recruitment which never materialised.

University College London last week blamed an “extraordinary surge in demand” for serious over-recruitment of international students. As it negotiates urgently with the Home Office to try to secure additional visa allocations, hundreds of students accepted on to courses have been told it is full.

Mark Corver, a university consultant and former director at admissions service UCAS, said that this year a record 70% of the non-EU international students accepting undergraduate places in England, Northern Ireland and Wales had been hoovered up by the most selective institutions.

“They have completely cornered the market in the students that everyone wants – the young, high-fee-­paying internationals who will be with you for three years,” he said.

Dr Tim Bradshaw, chief executive of the Russell group, said: “As demand continues to rise, our universities have worked hard to meet it, offering more places to talented students who will benefit from high-quality education and valuable graduate skills.”

He said members would “only accept students who show evidence of being able to meet the rigour of the course” and any growth in undergraduate numbers “takes into account the whole student cohort”.

Photograph by Alamy