More companies have confirmed they are interested in investing in the UK sector, potentially providing another source of capital for struggling universities, but experts warn that bringing traditional institutions under private control will be difficult and require close regulatory scrutiny.
Last week Global University Systems confirmed that Lincoln Bishop University is joining its group in what is being billed as a “new model” that will help the university “scale up”.
A European for-profit higher education group Galileo, which already owns Regent’s University London, had already confirmed it was also interested in further expansion in the UK. A spokesman told Times Higher Education it would rule out “no category” of institution in principle. It said it had backed Regent’s University London, Istituto Marangoni London, LMA, Corndel and the London Interdisciplinary School since 2020 and was “open to doing more”.
Most universities in the UK are not-for-profit institutions that are often structured as charities or statutory corporations, so a change would be “a regulatory process, not a purchase”, it acknowledged.
“Where we can be useful is where capital and management change what an institution is able to do, which is what happened at Regent’s,” the spokesperson said. “We do not go looking for institutions in difficulty; we keep channels open and listen when one approaches us.”
