DAVID LAMMY, the newly-appointed higher education minister, has warned that many universities will have to merge in the near future. DAVID LAMMY, the newly-appointed higher education minister, has warned that many universities will have to merge in the near future.

Addressing a Universities UK (UUK) conference on the future of higher education, Lammy asked: “Do you have the right number of institutions?”

“In the commercial sector there would have to be many mergers over the next few decades – far more than we have seen in higher education. Could more be done to encourage that among universities?”

He also said he would be “surprised” if the number of universities in Britain did not decrease over the next 10 to 15 years - “not necessarily mergers but new forms of partnerships or federations”, he added.

Such moves would reverse a trend which has led to a profusion of new universities over the last 10 years, with many being formed from colleges linked to existing institutions.

A recent example of higher education mergers came in August of last year, when Paisley University and Bell College merged to form the University of the West of Scotland. The university now comprises four campuses and a student body of over 18,000.

Lammy, who was promoted from his previous role as Skills Minister earlier this month, also called for “greater specialisation” in the university sector.

He said that this would involve “choices about withdrawing from activities, choices which may be uncomfortable ones for those who have grown used to thinking about a traditional model of university.”

The minister also drew on his own experience as a Harvard graduate in calling for UK universities to adopt an American-style system of asking alumni for donations, telling UUK delegates that: “The government has promised £200m to leverage funding from voluntary giving. That gives you a great opportunity.”