Privatisation may damage your wealth, UCU warns universities after more losses

The five joint ventures between INTO and UK institutions, covered in the most recent accounts at Companies House, made a combined loss of nearly £3.5m. Those partnerships, including one at Exeter University where incoming Universities UK (UUK) president Steve Smith is vice-chancellor, are based on a 50:50 ownership basis. The union further discovered that Andrew Colin, the sole shareholder of INTO University Partnerships had, up to 31 July 2008, lent the company £5.5m in the form of interest free loans repayable on demand.
 
According to the accounts, Andrew Colin lent INTO University Partnerships £1,420,477 in the form of an interest free loan repayable on demand. He also lent the company £4,074,101 in the form of an interest free loan, repayable on demand, through the company AJC Holdings Limited, of which he is the director and sole shareholder.
 
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'These figures are incredibly worrying for those institutions who rushed to embrace private money and those who are considering doing so. But it is even more worrying for the staff who were transferred by their previous university employers. It is high time university vice-chancellors, including incoming UUK president Steve Smith, faced up to their responsibilities for staff who face an increasingly insecure future.
 
'The overseas student market is of vital importance to UK higher education, not an add-on to be hived off to the highest bidder, and the same is true of the excellent staff who teach the students. We have consistently warned that universities embarking on these partnerships were gambling with their reputations and with staff jobs. Given the worrying losses, we call on universities and colleges to review the use of all partnerships with the private sector.'
 
The latest company accounts for INTO University Partnerships were filed at Companies House on 29 May 2009, for the year up to 31 July 2008. The accounts show that:

• INTO University Partnerships made a loss of £1,173,239
• The company's joint ventures made a combined loss of £3,337,466.

The losses recorded by the joint ventures with universities and colleges were:

• INTO University of East Anglia/INTO UEA LLP made a loss for year of £36,000
• INTO University of Exeter LLP made a loss of £723,583
• INTO Newcastle university LLP made a loss for the year of £941,621
• INTO Scotland LLP (a joint venture with Glasgow Caledonian University) made a loss of £212,923
• INTO Manchester Ltd (a joint venture with The Manchester College, formerly with City College Manchester) made a loss for the year of £1,423,339

The joint venture with The Manchester College has now dissolved, with the college selling its stake to INTO.