Middle universities will be squeezed hard

The UK's changing demographic, as well as fees, has contributed to the decline in student numbers. But it still creates trouble for middling universities, says Jonathan Wolff. There were almost 724,000 babies born in England and Wales in 2011, up from 595,000 in 2001. This is a staggering increase. Except that if we go back a further 10 years, to 1991, the number was around 700,000. The birthrate fell for 10 years, and then for the next 10 climbed back up, and beyond. Read more...