Lenders Risk Pain From UK Universities’ £9.5 Billion Debt Burden
Risk of an insolvency is rising after student numbers failed to grow as fast as expected
A European Regional Development Fund sign on site at Swansea University in 2018.
Photographer: Geoff Caddick/Getty Images
Swansea University’s Bay Campus on the outskirts of the Welsh city was expected to attract a wave of new fee-paying students to boost revenue after the government squeezed funding to the sector. These days, it’s more of a millstone after overseas enrollments failed to grow as much as expected, a symbol of the wider financial problems facing universities across the UK.
It takes 30 minutes by bus from the city center to reach the campus, which looked bleak last Friday with almost empty bike racks and fenced-off construction machinery. After increasing its borrowings to fund the construction, the institution had to renegotiate its lending terms in 2024 to avoid breaching covenants.