It’s mid September, which means that millions of students are descending upon university towns and cities across the country, ready to start a brand new year of hangovers, lectures, and long nights in the library. But their excitement might not be shared quite so much by universities, which are facing increasing financial pressures.
A whopping 40 percent of UK unis are now thought to be actively losing money year-on-year. Some are being forced to close entire departments or take on more international students, which pay higher fees, to make up the difference. But two universities in the southeast of England are taking a slightly more unconventional approach to survival.
The universities of Kent and Greenwich have announced that they’ll be merging into one ‘super-university’ called the London and South East University Group. They already share one campus in Medway, Kent, but from autumn 2026 onwards all uni properties, including Kent’s Canterbury campus, will operate under the new name.
The current vice-chancellor of Greenwich, Prof Jane Harrington, will take over as head of the new combined institution in September 2026. She said that the model was ‘taking the best of both universities and saying what do we want to offer to our communities’, and her Kent counterpart described it as ‘trailblazing’. Both have also stated that the decision to combine was not down to finances.
Once combined, the London and South East University Group will be responsible for nearly 50,000 students. Industry bodies have had differing reactions to the move; the University and College Union (UCU) voiced concerns about redundancies, but the Office for Students (OfS) ‘welcomed’ the merger, describing it as ‘innovative’.
UCU general secretary Jo Grady explained that this represents ‘a broader problem for the sector. Both of these institutions should have been on the government's radar, and rather than stepping in, we're seeing that this is how a crisis is managed’. She added that ‘this isn’t offering stability to students, to staff or to the sector’.
The fusion will go ahead with the endorsement of the Department for Education, which said in a statement: ‘This collaboration shows how strong partnerships in higher education can help enable delivery of world-class teaching and research whilst maintaining the best interests of students.’
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