Invitation 99/47Minority subjects: Invitation to apply for funds
Executive summaryPurpose 1. This document invites applications for special funding to support minority subjects from 2000-01. Key points 2. We are continuing to provide special funding for certain minority subjects outside the formula-based allocations of recurrent grant for teaching and research. 3. This document sets out our policy on special funding for minority subjects. It seeks information from institutions in England and Northern Ireland on the provision they are currently making for minority subjects, and invites applications for special funding to support this provision where it meets certain criteria. Action required 4. Responses should be made by 19 November 1999 to Vanessa Conte at the HEFCE. Background5. In 1993 we decided to continue the policy of our predecessor body, the Universities Funding Council (UFC), to provide special funding, outside the formula-driven funding for teaching and research, to support minority subjects where we were satisfied that continuing provision was in the national interest but might be at risk. We awarded grants to run from 1995-96 until the end of 1999-2000. A list of the subjects identified for support is at Annex A. Funding 6. We have reviewed this policy and agreed that special funding should continue to be available from 2000-01, on the same terms, with a further review in 2004. We have also considered the position of HEIs receiving special funding for provision relating to the former Soviet and East European (FSEES) countries, following a study of needs in this area carried out for the HEFCE in 1995. The life of this special grant has been extended until the end of 1999-2000. Where the provision it supports meets the criteria for minority subjects funding, institutions will be able to bid for funding under this programme from 2000-01. 7. Planned funding for the minority subjects programme is set at up to £5 million per year from 2000-01. (This includes the special grant currently paid to the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in recognition of its position as a small specialist institution with an exceptional concentration of rare and minority subjects. In parallel with the present exercise, we will be considering how best to support SOAS in this role after 2000.) Eligibility criteria 8. Minority subjects are defined for present purposes as those subjects which: a. Are isolated academically from other subjects. b. Require the provision of significant specialist staffing. c. Do not enrol sufficient students nationally to enable them to operate at the ratios of students to staff which can usually be sustained through formula-based funding. 9. With regard to the last point above, we have defined this as no more than 100 students at one time throughout the UK. In many cases provision will be very much less than this: at the extreme there might be only one or two students enrolled in total in a five-year period. 10. Not all minority subjects will be supported by this programme. Institutions that currently receive special funding for minority subjects should not assume that this will continue. Our general policy on special (non-formula) funding continues to be that it should be provided only in cases where: a. The broad interests of teaching and research in higher education would in some way be damaged by the absence of the facility being funded. b. Alternative sources of funding are not reasonably available. c. In the absence of non-formula funding, the institutions would either have to withdraw the facility, or would be faced with diverting an unacceptable amount of teaching or research resource to support it. 11. The criteria for allocating special funding for minority subjects are consistent with this approach and have been drawn from those previously applied in this field. Institutions will have to show that: a. The low demand for the subject is an attribute across the UK and not peculiar to one institution. We will consider only subjects which throughout the UK, over the last four years, have on average had less than 100 students, across all years of study, registered in one academic year. b. It is unlikely in the foreseeable future that the subject will attract the ratio of students to staff possible in most other subjects. c. The continued provision of the subject in the UK will be in doubt without extra support. d. It is in the interests of the UK that provision for the subject should be maintained (see paragraph 12 below). e. The institution is currently providing the subject. The emphasis is on using the limited resources to safeguard existing provision rather than supporting new or emerging disciplines. f. The subject is normally available as the principal subject of study leading to a first degree or equivalent qualification. g. The subject is not be a specialism under a much larger umbrella subject. h. High quality provision will be made in the subject. 12. For this purpose the national interest is defined as any of the following: a. The needs of diplomacy. This covers the full range of UK interests, influence and commitments overseas, and requires a supply of independent expertise to respond to the patterns of UK interests as they vary over time. b. The needs of industry and commerce. International trade and the development of overseas markets demand knowledge of local languages and cultures. Again, as international trading patterns change, so do the countries and regions about which knowledge is required. c. Maintenance of academic diversity. Minority subjects contribute to the diversity of provision by HEIs, and to maintaining the balance and breadth of discipline expertise in the UK. Such subjects by their nature depend upon a very small group of experts, and would quickly become in danger of disappearing if the number of new first degree entrants were allowed to decline too far. Once gone, the reintroduction of a subject would be unlikely. Content of applications 13. We do not hold the necessary information from which to identify all those minority subjects that may be considered for support. We therefore invite institutions to provide details, on the table attached at Annex B, of any subject currently offered by them which they believe to fit within the framework and the criteria described above. The list at Annex A may provide a starting point but should not be taken as excluding subjects not shown. 14. Institutions are also invited to bid for funds from 2000-01 for minority subjects detailed in the survey. The following information should be given separately for each subject for which a bid is made: a. Numbers of students enrolled in the subject in each of the four years 1995-96 to 1998-99, and the staff resources currently devoted to teaching them (using the table at Annex B). b. A statement of the national needs which provision in the subject is considered to meet, having regard to paragraph 12 above. c. The annual amount of additional funding sought for the subject and how the sum requested is justified. d. A summary of the institution’s plans for maintaining provision in the subject until 2004. 15. The bid for each subject should not be longer than two A4 pages, in addition to the table. Assessment procedure 16. An expert advisory panel will be appointed to evaluate the bids and to recommend which should be accepted. The panel will be asked to give advice on two issues: a. Which proposals should be selected for support, taking into account the criteria set out in paragraph 11 above. b. The amount of special funding to be provided for these proposals. 17. In making their recommendations, the advisers will seek information about current provision in relevant subjects in universities and colleges in Scotland and Wales, to take into account patterns of provision across the UK. 18. We will inform institutions whether their bids were successful at the beginning of February 2000. Allocations of funding will be announced in March 2000 with the recurrent grant allocations for 2000-01. 19. DENI will decide the allocation of funds for successful proposals for minority subjects in Northern Ireland, taking account of advice from the HEFCE and NIHEC. Responses 20. Survey returns and applications for funding should arrive by 19 November 1999, and be sent to: Vanessa Conte Annex ASubjects currently supported by HEFCE and DENI special funding for minority subjectsNote: this excludes subjects funded through the separate programme for studies in relation to former Soviet and East European countries. Ancient Near East Studies Annex BSurvey of provision for minority subjectsPlease complete a separate table for each minority subject. 1. Subject and course titles Name of institution Name of minority subject
2. Student registrations
3. Academic and Academic-related Staff
Notes Section 1 This table seeks to identify the minority subject provision offered and to quantify the percentage of time specifically devoted to the study of that subject. Since the percentage may vary from year to year an average figure is sought. Section 2 Only students registered on the courses listed in Section 1 should be counted. Home, EC and overseas students should be included. A head count is required of gross actual registrations during the year shown. Section 3 Details are sought of the numbers of academic and academic-related staff involved in the provision of the minority subject. Only staff involved in teaching the academic programmes listed at Section 2 should be included. Since staff may not devote all their time to the minority subject, information is sought on both the numbers of staff and the average percentage of time spent on the minority subject. Abbreviations UG - undergraduate |
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