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Major job losses at Welsh Uni - 8% drop in student applications


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HOLA441
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HOLA442
15 minutes ago, casual_squash said:

I was shot down a while ago warning about this.

You can't change the decisions of the captains of capital onboard your ship. You've made your warning.

Edited by 200p
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HOLA443

Just a few weeks ago staff were told the cuts were due to there being not enough people being born 18 years ago.  Now they're being told it's because of Brexit.  Another example of the (mis)management not having a clue what they're doing!

From the comments. There's sustainable growth and then there's a system where you continually need new entrants at the bottom. Sounds familiar?

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HOLA444
37 minutes ago, 200p said:

It must have been a bubble, and you can only recognise it after the fact. If you visit Portsmouth, you can't recognise it with all the student halls that have sprouted up all over the place. There have been cranes everywhere.

They are converting the old Zurich Insurance buildings into yes you've guessed, student halls. It's not even big enough - they are adding an extension. And this is just one complex.

47_ac0h8i1h04.jpg

Old Zurich Insurance Empty Building - it's not big enough!

0415_Knghtsbridge_Cam_11_Portsmouth.jpg

^Zurich + Extensions into 1000 bed student accommodation. Under construction. Link http://www.mcaleer-rushe.co.uk/projects/catherine-house-portsmouth/

 

33 minutes ago, casual_squash said:

The problem with Boro is there has been empty unit space in town since the 50's which they just can't fill. 

The council allowed the university to buy these units for £1 to fill them.  The smart kids now are looking at their Generation Y elders, see them living in high rent slums on average wages with high student debt and will most certainly look at alternatives. Add in demographics and yes to me the university bubble will implode. 

It'll hurt Northern towns but not to the degree of the 1980's de- industrialisation. The university bubble was a sticking plaster over a wart. 

The UK is overdue a major re balancing though, not just away from the EU cartel but the London cartel too. Both cartels fed the other and the capacity to support both is dwindling fast. 

 

 

24 minutes ago, casual_squash said:

I was shot down a while ago warning about this. 

I work with a property software company. The growth in commercial is dead so all the investors are now looking to residential as the white knight to save them. Big investors are ploughing into PRS/Build to Rent and student let is a major part of this. I'm told by sales that whats in their pipeline is crazy.

It keeps me in a job but I'm sceptical this is going to save these investors bacon, politically and numerically I just can't see it being sustainable. If the uni bubble pops a lot of people are going to lose big money. 

I also can't see Brexit voters ,after Brexit happily voting in a Government that is going to allow in the numbers to make all this work. 

 

 

 

 

In Housing bubble areas like lambeth London, I wonder if this office to resi conversion ban has soemthing to do with it ? 

http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news-by-region/london/lambeth-council-to-block-office-to-resi-permitted-development/7019452.article?adfesuccess=1

 

Quote

Lambeth Council to block office-to-resi permitted development

Lambeth Council will be able to force office-to-residential conversions to go through planning, after removing automatic development rights in parts of the borough.

 

The council’s cabinet last week agreed to implement an Article 4 direction requiring developers trying to convert office space into homes to receive planning permission.

Government policy usually allows such conversions to bypass the planning process, meaning councils cannot block the schemes or impose affordable housing requirements.

The move comes after the council released a report outlining its intention to bring office-to-residential conversions under planners’ control in July.

Communities secretary Sajid Javid asked for more information on the report and has not since opposed the council’s direction...

Jack Hopkins, cabinet member for business, culture and regeneration at Lambeth Council, said: “Since the office-to-residential permitted development rights were introduced by government we’ve seen the loss of thousands of square metres of office space – that’s potentially hundreds of jobs from the borough.

“We’ve also seen designs for residential units with no windows, or in locations that are simply unsuitable for people to live peacefully. Any residential developments as a result of these rights contain no affordable housing as they don’t require planning permission.”

Since the government introduced its permitted development policy for office-to-residential in May 2013, the council estimates more than 20,000 square metres of office space has been converted in Lambeth.

The new rules come into force in September and will cover sites in Brixton town centre, Clapham town centre and 10 of the borough’s designated Key Industrial Business Areas.

 

Edited by Saving For a Space Ship
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HOLA445
14 hours ago, The Masked Tulip said:

University of South Wales was a mish mash of polytechnics and colleges of HE. By merging them a lot of people did very well out of working on the merger plans and others taking early retirement. But, IMPO, the arts side of Newport, which was a world renowned Film & Photography college, was lost.

But it is interesting to see the downturn in applications. With a weaker Pound surely there should be more people from overseas applying.

The fall in the oil price had caused a big decline in numbers of overseas applicants from the middle east. I thought that demand from China was still reasonably strong. I know a guy who works in university admissions (not there, luckily for him!) I'll ask him about it next time i see him.

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HOLA446
5 minutes ago, Saving For a Space Ship said:

 

 

In Housing bubble areas like lambeth London, I wonder if this office to resi conversion ban has soemthing to do with it ? 

http://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/news-by-region/london/lambeth-council-to-block-office-to-resi-permitted-development/7019452.article?adfesuccess=1

 

 

It's just tantamount to the same problem and I'm sure a lot of these investors are lobbying Government to allow the rise in PRS. 

The growth in commercial isn't enough anymore, we can't fill this space with jobs anymore, so hey, lets instead convert them to residential,  fill them with people, hey presto we have paper growth again.  

Exactly what jobs these people will be working in is a mystery to me? 

It totally smacks of bubble mania and the last gasp of big investors trying to find growth where there is none. Of course the repercussions will be beyond the current power makes mandates so the cycle continues.  

 

 

 

 

 

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HOLA447
9 minutes ago, casual_squash said:

It's just tantamount to the same problem and I'm sure a lot of these investors are lobbying Government to allow the rise in PRS. 

The growth in commercial isn't enough anymore, we can't fill this space with jobs anymore, so hey, lets instead convert them to residential,  fill them with people, hey presto we have paper growth again.  

Exactly what jobs these people will be working in is a mystery to me? 

It totally smacks of bubble mania and the last gasp of big investors trying to find growth where there is none. Of course the repercussions will be beyond the current power makes mandates so the cycle continues.  

 

 

 

 

 

This !!!

Luton town centre all employment gone moved on for buildings to be residential ..so if there are no jobs in the town where are all this people living in these places most with little to no parking going to work.The idea that they can be filled by London commuters amazes me , whilst some commuters may move futher out for affordability.If the option of moving out leaves you with no parking , poor and expensive local public transport why bother ? Might as well stay in London save on the 4k train ticket.

 

Student accommodation is going up everywhere , I was sent details of these for investors claiming a 6% yield plus capital growth .As I see it their business plan involves student loans covering the 500 a month rent to give to investors.

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HOLA448

To be honest students will be better served by living in professionally managed build-to-rent places run by their universities (or associated companies) than some knackered old victorian conversion run by a slumlord (plenty of those in Portsmouth!). 

If the end result of this is a switch for students from the PRS to something more professionally run then that's a good thing. If a side effect is a few BTL slumlords go out of business, all the better.

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HOLA449
5 minutes ago, Nabby81 said:

This !!!

Luton town centre all employment gone moved on for buildings to be residential ..so if there are no jobs in the town where are all this people living in these places most with little to no parking going to work.The idea that they can be filled by London commuters amazes me , whilst some commuters may move futher out for affordability.If the option of moving out leaves you with no parking , poor and expensive local public transport why bother ? Might as well stay in London save on the 4k train ticket.

 

Student accommodation is going up everywhere , I was sent details of these for investors claiming a 6% yield plus capital growth .As I see it their business plan involves student loans covering the 500 a month rent to give to investors.

A London client I deal with did a build to rent recently. Last I heard even fully let out they wont make back the investment until after ten years.

I suspect they are meeting the demand for those wanting to live in London without the need to commute in. Another one in a similar scenario struggled to let our their space and overestimated the rent they could get in.

Again bubble mania but god knows when this will hit the buffers 

 

 

 

 

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HOLA4410
1 minute ago, RentingForever said:

To be honest students will be better served by living in professionally managed build-to-rent places run by their universities (or associated companies) than some knackered old victorian conversion run by a slumlord (plenty of those in Portsmouth!). 

If the end result of this is a switch for students from the PRS to something more professionally run then that's a good thing. If a side effect is a few BTL slumlords go out of business, all the better.

Its a zero sum game though, at some point I struggle to see how one cannot impact the other. 

For those who can lower rents they will, for those that can't they'll sell up which could trigger a house price crash and another recession along with it. 

It's partly why I'm looking at working in another industry, I'm sceptical that this has the legs to run for long. 

 

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HOLA4411
45 minutes ago, SpectrumFX said:

The fall in the oil price had caused a big decline in numbers of overseas applicants from the middle east. I thought that demand from China was still reasonably strong. I know a guy who works in university admissions (not there, luckily for him!) I'll ask him about it next time i see him.

China being China will soon put a stop to sending kids to Western Unis.

Its creating its own places and, if needs be, will ship in English speaking staff.

There's a lot of pride at stake, as well as money. Once China decides it needs world rated Unis its going to try and create them.

How that'll [an out is another thing bu they will raise the bar/stop Chinese kids going abroad for Uni.

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HOLA4412
2 hours ago, Gribble said:

UNi towns will be hit hard with Brexit as EU students wil no longer get reduced fees

One of the comments in the WalesOnline link said that EU students can take out UK student loans (seems to be true: https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/financial-help-eu-students) and, worse, that 1/3 don't bother to pay it back. Good riddance!

The clever economist commenter on there said that UK unis will lose a lot of EU Framework funding from Brexit. This has to be true, but the UK presumably pays into it in the first place. Apparently, we get more than our fair share back because of the supposed high quality of our universities and industrial R&D, but the difference can't be huge, and the EU never usually shows us any favouritism. 

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HOLA4413
22 minutes ago, spyguy said:

Once China decides it needs world rated Unis its going to try and create them.

Already has these. Peking is at 42 in the world list and Tsinghua is at 47. They have a whole host of others in the 200-300 range and then lots more in the 300-600 range.

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HOLA4414
8 minutes ago, Millaise said:

One of the comments in the WalesOnline link said that EU students can take out UK student loans (seems to be true: https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/financial-help-eu-students) and, worse, that 1/3 don't bother to pay it back. Good riddance!

The clever economist commenter on there said that UK unis will lose a lot of EU Framework funding from Brexit. This has to be true, but the UK presumably pays into it in the first place. Apparently, we get more than our fair share back because of the supposed high quality of our universities and industrial R&D, but the difference can't be huge, and the EU never usually shows us any favouritism. 

Much of USW's activity takes place within the "West Wales & the Valleys" area, which is classified by the EU as an area of deprivation because their GDP per capita is below 75% of the EU average, so they get access to European Structural Funds. They're not big players in the Framework Programmes, that's more the Russell Group Uni's. 

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HOLA4415

It's not just Wales and it's not just the lower ranked universities. I know at least 2 high ranked universities are suffering major problems as a result of both Brexit and the government's stance on immigration generally. They've lost the best paying students, especially at masters and PhD level who are also the ones who tend to stay around and work. That will then impact companies here as the professional staff simply won't be available. For both study and work, many well qualified people simply don't want to come to the UK any more.

I'm told they find government policy suicidal but the home office simply won't budge.

All the above is in science, engineering and medical areas.

 

 

Edited by miggy
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HOLA4416
4 minutes ago, miggy said:

I know at least 2 high ranked universities are suffering major problems as a result of both Brexit and the government's stance on immigration generally.

Good.

If they based their finances on foreigners and immigrants then they deserve to get hammered.

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HOLA4417
38 minutes ago, miggy said:

It's not just Wales and it's not just the lower ranked universities. I know at least 2 high ranked universities are suffering major problems as a result of both Brexit and the government's stance on immigration generally. They've lost the best paying students, especially at masters and PhD level who are also the ones who tend to stay around and work. That will then impact companies here as the professional staff simply won't be available. For both study and work, many well qualified people simply don't want to come to the UK any more.

I'm told they find government policy suicidal but the home office simply won't budge.

All the above is in science, engineering and medical areas.

 

 

Well ....... not sure.

One, the HE bodies should have kicked up a fuss when loads - and I mean loads - of FE colleges starting importing 100,000s of hopeless cases from the likes of Pakistan and fcknowheres to study 'Business' i nthe UK, which is means working i nthe kebab or SUbway or Chicken shack.

You cannot be part of a massive scam and not expect some fall out.

The home office *is* being good about letting in foriegn STEM students from around the world. Theres not much of problem with proper Unis doing proper courses. Its just  the low rated junk offering 'english' and 'businesses' courses to people who never show up.

UNIs/colleges need to forced to have skin in  the gane. Let them offer a guarantor of their forign students. If they are picked up in an illegal migrant haul then fine them painful amounts.

 

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HOLA4418
35 minutes ago, Errol said:

Good.

If they based their finances on foreigners and immigrants then they deserve to get hammered.

Their main folly was forgetting it was the 'exclusivity' of university that made it what it is. Not high volume turnover.

Chickens coming home to roost finally, no sympathy here. 

 

 

 

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HOLA4419

I live in Newport, I work about 3 miles from the Pontypridd campus. I fail to believe either attract many UK based students. Why? Because university isn't just about the education it's the lifestyle. Who the he'll want to live in Pontypridd or Newport? Both are crap holes. Neither have anything to offer an 18-22 year old and I fail to believe anyone would move home to attend either. It's one thing to live in the area and attend but you'd have to be mad to move their.

Having watched the universities grow (and then combined) I've wondered for a while when it was going to burst.

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HOLA4420
12 hours ago, Errol said:

'University of South Wales'?

Is that a joke? 

Establishments like this shouldn't even exist in the first place.

I'm sure it's a fine establishment. And it's great that Wales has a university. 

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HOLA4422
16 hours ago, casual_squash said:

Their main folly was forgetting it was the 'exclusivity' of university that made it what it is. Not high volume turnover.

Chickens coming home to roost finally, no sympathy here. 

 

 

 

Seems to be a global problem

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/editorial/taiwan-issues/2017/03/30/494550/Is-the.htm

Ever more higher education institutions around the planet competing for a potentially limited supply of students does not bode well for British 'Universities' of doubtful pedigree in grot hole towns.

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