September 2002/39
Core funding
Invitation to bid for funds

Bids should be submitted by Friday 1 November 2002

Additional student places and funds 2003-04

Invitation to bid

This publication invites bids from institutions for additional student places and funds for 2003-04. Bids may be for full-time or part-time, sub-degree, Foundation Degree, other degree or postgraduate taught places, as well as for bridging courses, foundation years or additional places to support Ufi activity.

Executive summary (read on-line)

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Report
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Annexes

Annexes A-C
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Annexes D and E, the ASN cover sheet and template, are not included in the web version of this document. Institutions need to log on to the HEFCE secure web-site to download their templates (instructions at Annex F).

Annex F: Accessing electronic data from the HEFCE web-site, and List of abbreviations
[ MS Word 156K | Zipped Word 17K | Adobe PDF 14K | Zipped PDF 11K ]

Executive summary

Purpose

1. This publication invites bids for additional student places and funds for 2003-04. Bids may be for full-time or part-time, sub-degree, Foundation Degree, other degree or postgraduate taught places. In addition, institutions may include places for summer schools and foundation years as part of their bid for a course. Institutions wishing to bid for additional places to support Ufi activity should do so through this additional student numbers (ASN) competition and not directly to the Ufi.

Key points

2. All higher education institutions and further education colleges (FECs) directly funded by the HEFCE are eligible to submit bids. We advise FECs that have small amounts of directly funded higher education (HE) provision to bid in collaboration with other, larger HE providers.

3. The framework for this initiative was set in 1997 and supports the key national priorities of widening participation in HE through increasing the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds, increasing opportunities for students, increasing vocationally-oriented provision, and supporting expansion of high quality in learning and teaching. For 2003-04 we shall continue to support these national priorities. Also, we particularly wish to encourage bids that:

• deliver Foundation Degrees
  
• support New Technology Institutes
  
• develop the new degree programme in social work education and training
  
• include places for summer schools and foundation years
  
• develop Ufi activity.

4. All bids should:

• contribute to national priorities for HE and/or to regional or sub-regional economic strategies
  
• enhance student employability
  
• give more students the opportunity to undertake high quality study at institutions of their choice
  
• address unmet student demand.

5. In addition, bids must address one or more of the following four specific priorities:

1. Expanding high quality in learning and teaching.
2. Widening participation by:
   1. Providing vocationally-oriented programmes.
   2. Increasing the range of HE options within a region.
   3. Meeting regional/national skills shortages.

6. We particularly encourage collaborative bids to widen participation in HE.

7. Institutions will have the opportunity to phase allocations over one, two or three years.

8. We shall be consulting institutions in 2003 about the future method for increasing and funding the supply of new places.

Action required

9. Institutions should submit bids for the 2003-04 ASN competition by e-mail on the bidding templates, and send one hard copy to the ASN team at the HEFCE, to arrive no later than 1200 on Friday 1 November 2002.

10. To access the bidding templates, institutions will need to log on to the HEFCE secure web-site. Usernames and passwords were distributed to heads of institutions and HESES/HEIFES contacts in March 2002 (see Annex F for more information).