The UK higher education sector is not ¡°crying wolf¡± over its financial worries but should not expect much help from government, senior university leaders have warned.

Sally Mapstone, principal and vice-chancellor of the University of St Andrews, told delegates at a British Academy conference that ministers seemed prepared to consider resetting the higher education system to solve its funding crisis.

¡°But there¡¯s also something very transactional about the way in which higher education reform is being put on the table in return for a greater willingness to engage with looking at tuition funding,¡± she added.

While the inflation-linked uplift in fees was a boost, Mapstone, who is also president of Universities UK, warned that any further help will not be ¡°radical¡±.

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Nevertheless, she said it was the sector¡¯s responsibility to make the case for improvement despite the ¡°palpable¡± stress involved in the current crisis.

¡°At one level¡­it¡¯s always been about the money but I think there¡¯s a sense that things are much more calamitous and perilous now than they were.

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¡°We have to be very careful that we¡¯re not seen as crying wolf. I, unfortunately, do not think that we are.¡±

Despite her institution¡¯s enviable financial position, Irene Tracey, vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford, told the conference that times were also tough for her.

¡°If I did not have philanthropy, or the Oxford University Press or spinouts and an endowment, I would not be able to make ends meet in Oxford because of just the high subsidisation of the research that we have to do,¡± she said.

With ¡°only so much pie¡± to go around for a new government ¨C and many conflicting needs and priorities ¨C Tracey urged the sector to make it as easy as possible for ministers to support universities by demonstrating their value.

¡°It¡¯s not a vote winner to put money into the university sector when your local hospital is failing and/or your schools,¡± she said.

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Tracey said the five-year electoral cycle disincentivised politicians to make the types of investment the sector needs, adding ¡°we¡¯ve got a real problem in that it¡¯s just not in their interest to make that pivot decision.¡±

She said that getting the public and private sector on side and ¡°having them be our champions¡±?will help?the sector make its argument to government.

Along with broader financial concerns, the event was particularly focused on the pressing issues affecting SHAPE subjects ¨C the Social Sciences, Humanities and Arts for People and the Economy.

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Tracey, a neuroscientist, said the humanities has a crucial role to play in building the narrative case in support of higher education, alongside their colleagues with scientific backgrounds.

And, despite the fears that the rise of artificial intelligence could be damaging for the humanities, she said these subject areas?would?become even more important ¨C to remind society why it is important to be human.

¡°We need the humanities to help us, particularly in this next era where technologies and robots and all this sort of thing is going to be the norm.

¡°[This is] when the humanities can come to the fore and just help guide us what it¡¯s going to be like and how should we live alongside some of these technologies, so I see a real opportunity actually for these subjects to rise up and have their time.¡±

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patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com