British colleges of further and higher education and schools with sixth forms face a severe funding shortfall as a result of the global financial crisis. The government argues that there is a £200m hole in the budget for 16-19 education caused by a miscalculation of the level of demand for places to study, which has soared during the recession. As a result funding per institution is £300,000 less than promised last month, and an estimated 35,000 students could be turned away at the start of the British academic year in September.

Christine Blower, the acting general secretary of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), said that the government had failed to properly anticipate the rise in demand for education during the recession, and that places at sixth forms and colleges were being “rationed” despite high-profile pledges by ministers to guarantee all 16-year-olds a place to study. She said the government is undermining its own promises to expand educational opportunities for people from poorer backgrounds

Ministers are working furiously behind the scenes to come up with money to ensure that schools and colleges are not forced to turn students away. An added pressure is that those students who do not get a place in an educational institution will face the extremely tough prospect of the recession-hit job market.

The row has strong echoes of the problems facing British universities, which have been instructed not to take on any more students this September than they did last year, after the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills reported a £200m deficit. Universities also are facing a record demand, with applications for places increasing by 7.7 percent compared with last year.

One university told the Guardian it faces a 20 percent increase in applications and five “straight-A” applicants for every two places it has on its books.

By Polly Curtis at the Guardian