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MORI survey 1999-2000

Staff in higher education institutions and further education colleges had an opportunity to air their views about the service HEFCE provides in a survey by MORI completed in 2000.

The survey involved interviews and focus groups involving 21 HEIs followed by quantitative questionnaires sent to 56 HEIs and FE colleges which were completed by 370 staff in a variety of management, academic and other posts.

The overall conclusion of the survey is a positive one, and in MORI's view HEFCE should take encouragement from the findings. A summary report is available here.

Survey results

The key findings are:

  • the majority of respondents say that HEFCE compares favourably with the other organisations with which they deal
  • the majority of staff are satisfied with the relationship their institution has with HEFCE
  • many institutions feel that HEFCE is approachable, respected, efficient, effective and in touch with the institutions it funds
  • on balance, staff agree that the service provided to institutions has improved over the past three years.

The improvement of service mentioned in the last point is a result of the increased use of electronic publications, accessibility of staff, and ability to deal with enquiries and requests.

Relatively few responses highlight ways in which the service has declined. Nevertheless a significant proportion mention that HEFCE is not doing a good job at understanding and presenting to Government the needs of the HE sector, and that HEFCE is not sufficiently involving institutions in policy development.

There were mixed views on special initiative funding. While respondents were, on balance, more negative than positive, a large proportion said that special initiative funding had helped secure desirable change in their institution.

Action plan

The Council is developing an action plan based on the survey's findings. The action plan will address: contact with institutions; special initiative funding; consultation on policy issues; printed and electronic communications; and staff training.

Last updated 15 July 2003