British researchers could be forgiven for cowering under their duvets at the moment, desperately hoping the bad news will go away. After years of relatively good funding, multiple tales of impending woe have slithering out into the light recently.

Nature’s Geoff Brumfiel noted at the end of January that the UK’s runaway debt (£800 billion and counting) was set to trigger serious cuts in public spending. Now the Guardian has weighed in, warning that universities are planning to “axe thousands of teaching jobs, close campuses and ditch courses”.

Strike action is already being considered at some universities and the University and College Union is warning today that 15,000 jobs could be at risk.

The Guardian quotes business secretary Peter Mandelson saying universities have to do “no more than their fair share of belt-tightening”.

The Times notes that more students will be disappointed in their search for university places. Numbers from umbrella group Universities UK indicate there could be 1.5 applicants per place, up from 1.3 last year.

On Saturday, Mike Baker at the BBC played down claims that the UK’s higher education sector faced a meltdown.

“It is likely that the universities we know today will have to change considerably over the next five to 10 years as they adapt to a very different financial climate than the one they have known for the past 15 years,” he wrote. “It is going to be a challenge. There will be victims. But if the higher education system is adaptable it should avoid ‘meltdown’.”