One of the key killing factors is the sheer waiting time on a grant. It used to take a matter of weeks and months to apply for a grant and wait for a result on whether you got it.

Now, we're talking on the order of months to a year. Imaging telling a talented grad student who wants to work with you to wait a year to secure them a place.

This prompts a lot of researchers to pre-emptively apply for anything and everything at all times, increasing the needless competition and slowing down the vetting process immensely.

The article spends some lines blaming this on private capital but only hand waves and on it. I would expect something more concrete.

University systems worldwide will need to consolidate and combine in order to preserve themselves, their rich collections and institutions, if they want to survive, because populations are plummeting globally.