England’s universities still waiting for help to stop slow-motion financial crisis

Change of government may have come too late for some institutions with no prospect of immediate relief

The false dawn" is a staple of Hollywood thrillers: where the main characters think they have escaped their nemesis, only to discover they are in more peril than ever.

So it is for England's universities. Having slogged through years of frozen tuition fees and lashings from Conservative ministers about bums on seats", grade inflation and low-value" degrees, last month's general election raised hopes that the worst was over. But the plot twist for England's vice-chancellors is that there is still another mountain to climb.