More cuts

The government is to cut university funding by £533m - from £7.81bn this year to £7.29bn for 2010-11, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has said.

In a letter to the Higher Education Funding Council For England (HEFCE), he also asks universities to protect quality and access to higher education.

How special is this? A government which has sunk billions of pounds into projects to increase participation in higher education is now cutting HE funding and threatening fines for providers who over-recruit. Mandelson wants to take out more money - this is on top of the ELQ cuts remember - but also wants quality and access protected. Universities are generally very good at doing things which other institutions cannot but this one is up there with plaiting fog and nailing jelly to the ceiling.