Funding Cuts and the Impact

I am pretty sure that most people reading this will have heard about the proposed funding cuts to higher education. While this is clearly going to impact at all levels, I do feel that a number of issues haven't been so clearly articulated in the media, which has tended to concentrate, in my understanding, on the undergraduate market.

Firstly, the impact upon research councils. This is of huge importance, not merely for individuals funded by them, but for research groups, departmental work and those trying to set up conferences and collaborative endeavors on a limited budget.

Secondly, when we begin to lose subjects, we begin to loose our heads. Yes, I have a history background, yes, I like old books, but I was really saddened to hear about the loss of the chair of Paleography at KCL. It might not be popular, but it's valuable. I'm saddened, as much as anything, by a world in which popularity constitutes the only marker of value.

Yes, there may well be 6000 less university places next year, but that just means people will have to be better and try harder, and I really don't think that holds a candle to the loss of knowledge.