The House in brief: Lack of funding is a threat to universities

Parliament

British universities may lose their competitive edge because of cash shortages, Lord Jenkins of Hillhead, Oxford University's Chancellor, Lord Jenkins of Hillhead, warned yesterday.

The Liberal Democrat peer said that the "brightest and best" students would look start to look elsewhere for places, if funding was not made available. "The role of our leading universities should be as spearheads of this country's educational system, and not as international finishing schools," he said.