Moreover, recessions diminish the prospects for graduate employment. “You have a downgrading of the student experience and a downgrading of the value of the degree; I think it is going to be difficult for universities to sustain the same level of fees that they have been”, said Marginson. It could easily add up to a perfect storm: weakening of domestic and international demand coupled with pressure to decrease fees. “Without any action, universities will be forced to make huge cuts, jobs will be lost, and vital research will be halted”, a spokesperson for Universities UK, an umbrella group representing 137 institutions, told The Lancet Oncology.