A sector-wide financial crisis in higher education: a scoping review of institutional responses in England

Abstract

English higher education (HE) is experiencing acute financial instability, driven by rising staff and compliance costs, a cap on tuition fees, and declining international student income. This article offers the first synthesis of recent fragmented scholarship on how English universities are responding to these pressures, using Resource Dependence Theory (RDT). A scoping literature review of peer-reviewed studies published between 2020 and 2025 was conducted using Scopus with predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Records were screened for relevance and eligibility, and findings were analysed through thematic analysis; the review was complemented by case studies of three English universities to contextualise sector-wide patterns. Seventeen records were identified and sixteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Four strategic response patterns were identified: buffering (for example, voluntary redundancy schemes, course closures and operational streamlining), bridging (for example, internationalisation, industry partnerships and digital provision), restructuring (for example, intensified managerial control and consultancy logics) and sustainability, which emerged as a cross-cutting but fragile concern shaped by stakeholder power and financial slack. The findings suggest that, while universities display adaptive capacity, many responses generate new or intensified resource dependencies. More holistic approaches are therefore needed that balance financial efficiency with academic integrity, public purpose, stakeholder legitimacy, environmental sustainability and the governance implications of artificial intelligence.