There have been calls from the European University Association for increased funding for universities from European governments. The association wants investment in higher education and research to meet the Barcelona target of 3% for higher education and 2% for research as originally proposed by the European Commission.

The report, which was commissioned to reflect on the impact of the economic crisis on higher education throughout the continent, found that many governments have made significant cuts to funding for higher education and there are fears in many countries that further cuts are on their way.

The report states that there have already been major cuts in Latvia, Italy, Romania, Lithuania and the UK, among others. In other countries, although there have been no cuts, governments have discarded previously made agreements to increase funding. In some cases this could leave some universities with 15% less funding than they had been expecting.

“Only a small number of European governments have upheld their commitments or indeed provided new investments to fund higher education,” the EUA says.

However, there is some good news. In Germany and France, funding for higher education increased by as much as 5%. The report has also opened the debate into the nature of funding for universities. In many countries the possibility of private funding for universities is being discussed for the first time. In Scandinavia for example, opinion has always been strongly in favour of total public funding for universities but the option of private funding is now being considered.

It is hard to tell how the economic crisis will affect universities in the long run but it is clear that higher education institutions play an integral role in helping to steer countries back to prosperity. The EUA believes that an increase in funding will benefit us all in the long run.