Countries and institutions advocating for their budgets in 2026 amid an "underlying funding crisis"

The beginning of 2026 has been marked by countries and institutions fighting to maintain or increase budgets for higher education and research, as many states face economic difficulties and the need for reprioritisation amid geopolitical tensions.

A study by the Policy Institute at King's College London published in May showed that universities in Europe are largely facing similar difficulties, like growing public scepticism, culture-war pressures and questions about their value to society, which are symptoms of the underlying funding crisis. The study pointed out the falling per-student funding, political taboo on fees, global competition and fragile dependency on international students as the main difficulties.

In France, the budget bill passed in February, with €31.6bn for research and…