TWO universities in Liverpool are at “high risk” of going bust because of savage government funding cuts, ministers will be warned today.

Edge Hill University and Liverpool Hope University – plus the University of Chester – are placed on the danger list in research carried out by academics.

They are among 27 higher education institutions at high risk of closure, or merger, primarily because of the shock withdrawal of the bulk of their teaching budgets, the University and College Union (UCU) said. Both Edge Hill and Hope rejected the fears.

Under government plans, that income will be replaced by hiking student fees to as high as £9,000 – in a crunch Commons vote to take place tomorrow.

But there are growing fears that higher fees will fail to plug the gap. Nine out of 10 university leaders have said they expect institutions to go to the wall.

Last night, the UCU warned of the “devastating impact” on Liverpool’s economy, because the huge number of jobs that universities bring make them “wealth-creators for communities”.

Sally Hunt, the union’s general secretary, said: “Universities could find themselves in real trouble once the landscape of higher education changes, and funding cuts, bite. The worst-case scenario is for closure.”

But Edge Hill University – one of four said to be at “very high” risk – hit back at a report it described as “inaccurate, poorly researched and produced without any consultation”.