Capital investment funding to support teaching and research announced

17 March 2011

HEFCE has announced funding totalling £662 million for capital investment to support teaching and research in 128 higher education institutions and 124 further education colleges (see Note 1). The announcement covers allocations for teaching for 2011-12 and 2012-13, and for research from 2011-12 to 2014-15 (see Note 3).

There continues to be a significant investment in research. Total research capital will amount to £549 million over four years, and will be distributed by formula based on Research Council income, HEFCE quality-related (QR) funding and other research income (see Note 4).

The December 2010 grant letter from the Secretary of State to HEFCE announced capital funding of £223 million for 2011-12, with further indicative funding of £245 million for 2012-13, along with indicative research capital funding for 2013-14 and 2014-15 (see Note 5 for details of how these funds are to be distributed). The components are as follows:

£58 million to reinstate teaching capital funding that was withheld in 2010-11. At the time the reductions were made, HEFCE agreed the funding would be reinstated in 2011-12 if funding were available to do so (see Note 6).
£49 million in 2012-13 to support teaching capital, with subsequent years of funding to be decided at a later time. These funds will enable universities to invest in learning and teaching physical infrastructure, and include £4 million for learning and teaching laboratories.
£6.3 million will contribute to investment in learning and teaching infrastructure in HEFCE directly funded further education colleges in 2011-12 and 2012-13 (see Note 7).
£549 million for the second Research Capital Investment Fund over the four years 2011-12 to 2014-15.

In addition HEFCE is announcing £10 million for a second Revolving Green Fund. This will build on the success of the first round, and includes £4 million recycled from the first round plus additional funding over 2011-12 and 2012-13 (see Note 8).

Sir Alan Langlands, Chief Executive of HEFCE, said:

'Students and researchers are reaping the benefits of many years of significant capital investment provided by HEFCE, but the level of that investment is now inevitably decreasing as the Government tackles the fiscal deficit.

'There is still significant investment in research, and we have been able to reinstate £58 million in teaching capital funding that we had been unable to provide in 2010-11.The capital funding we are allocating for teaching and research will make a contribution to buildings and equipment, enabling universities and colleges to continue developing their estates in a sustainable way. I am particularly pleased we have been able to build on the success of universities and colleges in reducing carbon emissions by providing a further £10 million to the Revolving Green Fund.'

Notes

Details of the allocations to higher education institutions (HEIs) are given in 'Capital Investment Fund 2: Capital allocations for learning and teaching 2012-13; capital allocations for research 2011-12 to 2014-15' (HEFCE 2011/08).
Capital funding is allocated by financial year.
The 20 December grant letter from the Secretary of State to HEFCE announced for 2011-12: £95 million for teaching capital in 2011-12 and £128 million for research. Capital funding for research was firm for 2011-12, with indicative allocations for research for the next three years. Teaching capital allocations for 2012-13 are also indicative. The combined allocation for 2011-12 represents a reduction of 58.1 per cent in capital funding in cash terms on the previous year.
The total for the Research Capital Investment Fund of £549 million comprises £111 million in 2011-12, £140 million in 2012-13, £139 million in 2013-14 and £159 million in 2014-15.

Details of the capital programmes over 2011-12 and 2012-13 are below.

Programmes	2011-12 £M	2012-13 £M
Total	223	245
Joint Information Systems Committee*	20	20
Strategic Development Fund*	30	20
Revolving Green Fund*	1	5
Open Education Resource	4	4
Teaching Capital Investment Fund	54	53
Directly funded further education colleges	3	3
Research Capital Investment Fund	111	140

* These programmes are funded from both teaching and research capital (two-thirds from teaching and one-third from research).

The total for the Teaching Capital Investment Fund of £107 million over 2011-12 and 2012-13 will meet the £58 million reinstatement of teaching capital that was withheld in 2010-11 and the £49 million for the first year of the second round.

Details of the reinstatement of £58 million of funding in 2011-12 under the Teaching Capital Investment Fund are given in HEFCE Circular letter 11/2011.
Details of capital funding for directly funded further education colleges in 2011-12 and 2012-13 are given in HEFCE Circular letter 10/2011.
The Revolving Green Fund aims to help higher education institutions in England reduce carbon emissions. The funds provide recoverable grants to institutions for projects that reduce their emissions. HEIs will repay the funds through the savings they make.