• About us
  • > What HEFCE does
    • > HEFCE - a brief history

• What HEFCE does
• Milestones in HE

HEFCE - a brief history

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) was established following the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. A principal feature of the legislation was to create one unified higher education sector by abolishing the division between universities and polytechnics. Four funding bodies were set up - for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. From 1 April 1993, these bodies have funded all higher education institutions in the UK.

Previously, in England:

• universities were formerly funded by the Universities Funding Council (UFC)
• polytechnics and colleges were formerly funded by the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council (PCFC)
• three institutions were funded directly by the Department of Education and Employment.

Another significant development under the new legislation was to require HEFCE to assess the quality of education in the institutions it funds. This was initially carried out by the Quality Assurance Division of HEFCE. In April 1997, this responsibility passed to a new body, the Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. See the quality assurance section of this web-site for more information.

Last updated 9 May 2006