March 2004/12
|
| To: | Heads of HEFCE-funded institutions Heads of universities in Northern Ireland |
| Of interest to those responsible for: | Finance, planning |
| Reference: | 2004/12 |
| Publication date: | March 2004 |
| Enquiries to: | HEFCE higher education advisers |
Executive summary (read on-line)
Download
Report
[ MS Word 165K | Zipped Word 55K | Adobe PDF 42K | Zipped PDF 35K ]
Annex A - Descriptions of columns in Tables 1 and 2
[ MS Word 83K | Zipped Word 13K | Adobe PDF 14K | Zipped PDF 10K ]
Table 1 - Recurrent resources for academic year 2004-05
[ MS Excel 78K | Zipped Excel 26K | Adobe PDF 63K | Zipped PDF 59K ]
Table 2 - Comparison with academic year 2003-04 recurrent resources
[ MS Excel 85K | Zipped Excel 30K | Adobe PDF 50K | Zipped PDF 46K ]
Table 3 - Special funding and earmarked capital allocations for 2004-05
[ MS Excel 25K | Zipped Excel 5K | Adobe PDF 7K | Zipped PDF 5K ]
In July 2004 universities and colleges received their funding agreements from us for 2004-05 taking account of changes, for example, to funding routes and additional student number allocations.
Executive summary
Purpose
1. This document summarises our provisional allocations of recurrent funding to institutions for the academic year 2004-05.
Key points
General
2. The HEFCE Board agreed the allocations on 25 February 2004. We wrote to all institutions individually on 1 March 2004.
3. All years relate to academic years - that is, 1 August to 31 July. References to percentage changes in real terms use a GDP uplift of 2.5 per cent on the equivalent figures for 2003-04.
4. We are distributing £5,993 million in 2004-05, an overall cash increase of 9.3 per cent compared with 2003-04. The total includes £3,826 million for teaching, £1,081 million for research, £486 million for special funding and £584 million for earmarked capital funding.
-
Total funding for teaching has increased by 5.6 per cent (3.1 per cent in real terms) over the equivalent figures for 2003-04. This allows us to provide an additional 20,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) student places for 2004-05, while providing an uplift slightly above inflation. This increase for teaching includes an additional £48 million for rewarding and developing staff in higher education (HE), compared with the allocations for 2003-04. The overall publicly-funded unit of resource for teaching (including regulated fee income for full-time undergraduates) has increased by 2.8 per cent compared with 2003-04.
-
Funding for research has increased by 3.9 per cent. Taking account of increases in research activity, this has enabled us to maintain the average unit of resource for research.
-
We are also providing £584 million for earmarked capital funding. This is a 60 per cent increase compared with 2003-04.
Teaching
5. The total of £3,826 million for teaching for 2004-05 includes the following:
-
£273 million to support widening participation for students from under-represented groups or who are at greatest risk of not completing their studies. We have made some changes to the allocation method so that it better reflects local circumstances.
-
£234 million for rewarding and developing staff (including golden hellos and the Promising Researcher Fellowship Scheme). (See paragraphs 19 and 25.)
-
£21 million for an additional 5,000 FTE foundation degree places, allocated in response to the new bids invited in HEFCE 2003/48, 'Foundation degrees: invitation to bid for additional places and development funds 2004-05'.
-
£43 million for additional funded students in 2004-05, allocated in response to earlier bidding exercises.
-
£21 million for increases in medical student numbers.
Research
6. A total of £1,081 million is allocated for research. This is an increase of 3.9 per cent compared with 2003-04. It has enabled us to maintain the average unit of resource in real terms for departments rated 5*, 5 and 4 in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). In addition, we are providing supplementary funding of £24 million to the 'best 5*-rated' departments.
7. We are no longer funding departments rated 3a or 3b through our main quality-related research funding (QR), but are continuing to provide funding for some such departments through the capability fund aimed at encouraging research in seven emerging subject areas (see paragraph 30).
Moderation of teaching and research
8. We have continued our policy of phasing in changes by moderating the allocations. Institutions will not receive a reduction in resource (teaching and research grant, plus regulated fee income) in real terms, compared with the equivalent unmoderated figure for 2003-04.
Special funding and earmarked capital
9. In addition to our recurrent grants for teaching and research, we distribute special funding for specific purposes. In 2004-05, this funding totals £486 million. We will also allocate £584 million for earmarked capital grants.
Student numbers
10. We have provided for an additional 20,000 FTEs for 2004-05. Of these, 5,000 have been allocated through the most recent bidding exercise for foundation degrees announced in HEFCE 2003/48.
Action required
11. No action is required in response to this document.