Commenting on the Universities UK submission to the Government’s spending review in which it warns that cutting back too deeply on higher education finances could harm Britain’s standing internationally, TIGA, the trade association representing the UK computer and video games industry, said it’s important we maintain investment in our universities to allow us to compete in the global knowledge economy.
Richard Wilson, CEO of TIGA, said:
“The Universities UK submission is right to point out the importance of universities to our economic recovery and long-term growth. Unfortunately, as the recently published OECD’s ‘Education at a Glance 2010’ report showed, the UK only invested 1.3% of Gross Domestic Product in higher education in 2007. This is significantly lower than our competitor countries such as the US (3.1%), Canada (2.6%), Australia (1.5%), and Japan (1.5%). We need to ensure that spending in higher education is not unduly hit by the coalition’s deficit reduction plan.
“We also need to address the skills shortage by lowering tuition fees for mathematics and computer science courses to incentivise students to study these disciplines.
“We fully support Universities UK recommendation of sustaining the capacity of universities to engage with business as this has significant benefits for both sides.””