Students could face subject “cold spots” if universities are not allowed to work together more to deliver courses, according to a new report.
The review by Universities UK, which represents 141 institutions, found universities were reluctant to collaborate because of concerns around breaking business laws designed to promote healthy competition between them.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it wanted to support collaboration where possible in a “very challenging” financial situation for the sector.
A government review of how higher education will be funded in the long term is under way in England, and is expected to be published later this year.
The Universities UK report said greater collaboration between universities could be a solution for institutions who are struggling to cut costs and become more efficient.
Some universities are already delivering courses this way, to the benefit of students.
Mature student Joe Vincent, 33, lives at home in Devon with his partner and baby while studying in Plymouth for a masters degree in pharmacy from the University of Bath, over 130 miles away.
“It’s everything for me”, he says, adding that being able to study and qualify locally “is the difference between me having this career, and not having this career”.
In 2018, he trained as a pharmacy technician at a nearby college, because there was no local university course available to become a pharmacist.
This close collaboration between universities is also intended to meet a shortage of community pharmacists in the South West.
Sir Nigel Carrington, who led the review for Universities UK, said more clarity was needed to prevent universities having to make decisions about which courses to close, or merge, in isolation from one another.
He told the BBC there was a risk of “cold spots emerging in which there will be no opportunity for prospective students to study the subjects they want to study in their home cities or their home regions”.
He said neighbouring universities should be allowed to look at which subjects they recruit the fewest students for and agree that only one of them should teach that course, “divvying up other courses between them” and working out where delivering a subject would be most cost effective.
After the University of Cardiff announced job losses earlier this year, vice-chancellor Prof Wendy Larner told The Times newspaper she was “deeply frustrated” by legal advice not to consult other universities on the impact of course closures, adding the system was “set up to enhance competition, not collaboration”.
The CMA enforces the existing law, which applies across different sectors to protect consumers, in this case students.
In a blog post published on Friday, it said it recognised the financial problems facing universities and that it wanted to support collaboration where possible.
The CMA said ideas such as sharing back-office functions, or discussing possible mergers with other universities, were unlikely to raise competition law concerns.
Juliette Enser, executive director of competition enforcement at the CMA, said: “We know universities are interested in collaborating on courses they offer and we are working to understand how this fits with overall plans for higher education reform.”
It would be for the government to change the law, or how universities are regulated, to allow up-front conversations to be had about whether some subjects need a different kind of collaboration in different regions.
University budgets have been strained by a 16% drop in international students – who pay higher fees than domestic students – after changes to visa rules came into force last January.
University income in the form of fees has also failed to keep up with inflation, rising for the first time in eight years this autumn from £9,250 to £9,535.
The higher education regulator in England, the Office for Students, has said four in 10 universities are heading for a financial deficit by this summer, despite thousands of job losses already having been announced.
Course cutbacks or closure announcements have also followed one after the other this year, from the University of East Anglia to Sheffield, Durham, Bournemouth and many more.
It has become a patchwork of individual institutional decisions, largely driven by market forces, including how many students want to sign up for individual subjects.
The government said it had been clear that universities needed to increase opportunities for students and contribute more to growth in the economy.
In response to the review, Jacqui Smith, the Skills Minister, said: “I am pleased to see the sector taking steps to grip this issue as we restore our universities as engines of opportunity, aspiration and growth.”
A review of the longer term future of higher education in England is expected to be published before the summer.
