Last year, we conducted a global survey of nearly 800 academics, asking questions about budget cuts at their respective institutions for fiscal year 2013, and their expectations for 2014. We wanted to get a sense of the climate around the world in terms of who is still being affected by the economic downturn, and to what extent, in order to better grasp the daily reality for both employers and job seekers.

In this post we’re examining the responses gathered from researchers and other academic professionals working in the UK. Of those who responded to our survey, 70% said they work in universities, 9% in think tanks, 9% in a private company or consultancy, 9% in the government and the remaining 3% in a bank.

The data from the UK are quite interesting, as they generally follow the general European trend, except in the case of marketing budgets. Yet, when examined more closely, the lack of change in anticipated budget cuts in marketing for 2014 can be countered by an increased percentage of UK respondents expecting budget increases. For 2013, 5% of UK respondents claimed their marketing budgets were increased, while 10% said they anticipated marketing budget increases for 2014. These expected increases for the 2014 fiscal year are certainly good news for UK marketing departments!

Across each of the other budgets, the sharp decrease in anticipated budget cuts for 2014 also offers a promising outlook for the UK market. 14% of respondents said they anticipated general budget increases for 2014, which also shows a distinct increase from the 9% who reported general budget increases for 2013.