Invitation 99/56

Additional student places and funds:

Invitation to bid

1. Executive Summary

   Purpose

2. This publication invites bids for additional student places and funds for 2000-01. Bids may be for full-time or part-time, below-degree, degree or postgraduate taught places.

   Key Points

3. The Government has indicated that it will make available funds to support 25,000 additional student places for 2000-01. These numbers are subject to confirmation towards the end of 1999. Further places will also become available if recruitment overall in 1999-2000 is below the targets set.
4. All higher education institutions (HEIs) and further education sector colleges (FECs) directly funded by the HEFCE are eligible to submit bids. FECs who wish to offer directly funded higher education programmes for the first time in 2000-01 should refer to HEFCE 99/36, which provides guidance on funding options.
5. The framework for this initiative was set in 1997 and supports the key national priorities of widening access to higher education, increasing opportunities for students, increasing provision below degree level, and rewarding high quality learning and teaching. For 2000-01, therefore, we are inviting bids that will:
   • reward high quality in learning and teaching
   • widen access to higher education.

   Bids may address either or both of these priorities. We particularly encourage collaborative bids to widen access to higher education. All bids should refer to the institutions' records on employability of their students, on student demand and on quality, including information about the student learning environment. They should be in line with institutional corporate plans and should contribute to the developing regional or sub-regional strategies for HE.

   Action required

6. Institutions should send completed bids to the Additional Numbers Team, HEFCE, Northavon House, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol, BS16 1QD, to arrive no later than 1700 on 2 November 1999.

   Introduction

7. In October 1997, following consultation with institutions, we announced the overall framework for allocating additional funded student places. This was to enable institutions to:
   • respond strategically to changes in student demand and to changes in their environment
   • respond to regional needs and develop innovative approaches to delivering HE
   • respond to the national priorities of expanding provision below degree level and widening access to HE
   • give students the opportunity to undertake high quality study at institutions of their choice.
8. We set this framework for up to three years, subject to annual changes to our specific priorities. The competition for places in 2000-01 will be the third year of the programme.
9. Key objectives that will influence the allocation of additional HE provision are:
   • making places available to all those capable of benefiting from higher education
   • rewarding high quality learning and teaching
   • improving employability
   • increasing the focus on vocational and competency-based programmes below degree level
   • widening access into HE for full-time and part-time study
   • providing higher education through FECs (or partnerships with FECs) to serve communities and students without access to HE institutions.
10. The Government indicated in December 1998 that it will make available funds to support 25,000 additional student places for 2000-01. Of these, 19,000 will be for places below degree level, and 6,000 for places at degree level or above. Within the overall figure of 25,000 additional places, 17,000 will be for part-time, of which 12,000 will be for places below degree level, and 8,000 will be for full-time provision. These numbers are all head counts, not full-time equivalents. They are subject to confirmation in the annual grant letter to the HEFCE towards the end of 1999. Further places will become available if recruitment overall in 1999-2000 is below the targets set. We will not know until January 2000 how many places this will release, but last year we redistributed 6,000 such places. Places available for redistribution will enable us to respond to bids for undergraduate degree places.
11. We shall allocate places according to the relative merits of the bids, based upon how well they address the criteria below. We shall expect the allocations overall to contribute to regional needs in terms of employability and access, and we particularly encourage collaborative bids in these areas. Where institutions make individual bids, they should show how their proposals relate to other similar bids in the region or sub-region. In some cases we may require institutions seeking to cover similar provision to consolidate their bids.
12. Institutions that received an allocation of additional places for 1999-2000 will wish to reflect upon their success in recruiting to those places before making a further bid. We shall be writing separately to seek early information about the recruitment of additional places for 1999-2000, and will take that into account in considering bids for 2000-01, particularly where institutions were awarded additional places below degree level which they have not been able to fill.

    Purpose

13. For 2000-01, we are inviting bids that will:
    • reward high quality in learning and teaching and/or
    • widen access to higher education.
14. In particular, we invite bids to widen access to HE that are in line with the following specific policy objectives:
    • to increase the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds
    • to increase the range of higher education options within a region
    • to offer programmes which lead to competency-based vocational qualifications below degree level, such as EDEXCEL Higher National Diploma (HND) and Higher National Certificate (HNC) courses
    • to help meet skill shortages.
15. We recognise the particular contribution that further education sector colleges can make, for example:
    • improving local access in geographical areas not served by an HEI, with the aim of establishing HE in a visible form in every community of significant size
    • offering particular subject specialisms and courses not well covered by HEIs
    • providing what many students perceive as a more supportive learning environment
    • providing diplomas in HE, and HND and HNC courses.
16. We would expect FECs with HE provision to benefit from the emphasis given to HE diploma-led provision in the Government's plans for growth in HE. In line with the principles of HEFCE publications 99/36 and 99/37 on the funding of FECs, we encourage all FECs, in formulating bids, to consider what form of partnership with an HEI might best support the quality of the student experience. As in previous years, HEIs are welcome to bid for places to be provided by an FEC through an indirect funding partnership.
17. We will look to both HEIs and FECs to encourage and improve the development of progression routes to degree level, and the development of HE diploma-led qualifications as routes into employment, so that students can have a range of stepping-off points below degree level. We encourage bids that build on work with Lifelong Learning Partnerships.
18. Under the Council's widening participation programme for 1999-2000 to 2001-02 (HEFCE 99/33), we already have special funds available to support the development of summer schools designed to introduce to HE potential students from disadvantaged groups, or to assist their progression. Under the additional student places initiative, institutions may wish to seek, as part of their bid, student places for summer schools during an HE programme: that is, between years 1 and 2 or years 2 and 3 of an HE programme. These summer schools may be effective in, for example, aiding student retention and progression, enhancing completion, or developing skills which will improve students' employability. Any bids should be for programmes of at least six weeks' duration on a full-time basis, which, with preparation and assessment, would count as 0.25 of a student year programme.

    Criteria for bidding

19. All bids should address the criteria described in paragraphs 20-28 below. In addition, bids seeking student places in reward for high quality learning and teaching should address paragraph 29, and bids seeking places to widen access should address paragraphs 30-33.
20. Below each criterion, we list the assessment information that we plan to make available to the advisory panel assessing the bids. The performance indicators in HE to which we refer are those we have provided to HEIs individually. We invite bidders both to comment on the evidence already available to the panel in respect of their institution, and to provide additional relevant information and analyses if they wish. We have asterisked the information that we would like institutions to provide with their bids.

    Generic criteria

    Strategy for HE

21. We seek bids which contribute to the developing regional or sub-regional strategies being prepared by Regional Development Agencies (RDAs). In particular we encourage collaborative bids from HEIs and FECs, either for the region as a whole or at sub-regional and city levels.
22. We expect bids that will make a significant strategic impact on the institution's development. All bids should flow from, and be consistent with, the priorities stated in the institution's corporate plan. Institutions are likely to be able to demonstrate the strategic impact of their bids more easily if they draw together individual elements into a single bid, rather than make a large number of small bids for separate programmes. Where bids are for very large increases in student places - for example to support major new campus developments or major collaborative proposals - exceptionally we may provide additional funding and places over three years (see paragraph 41 below).
23. Institutions should comment on:
    • how the bid builds on existing strengths and how these contribute to strategies for HE nationally and/or regionally
    • how the bid contributes, specifically in terms of employment needs, to the economic strategy for the region being prepared by the RDA
    • what interaction they have had with other HE providers in the region about the development of their proposal.

    Assessment information	Source
    Regional priorities for widening participation and promoting economic development	RDAs, HEFCE consultants
    Institutions' corporate plans	Returns from HEIs
    Institutions' statements of their strategies for widening participation	Returns from HEIs
    FECs' statements of their strategies for HE *	Information submitted with bids

    Employability

24. We particularly wish to encourage institutions to ensure that students leave HE with the necessary skills for employment. Therefore we will take into account the employment success of institutions' previous students. Currently a steering group is developing national performance indicators (PIs) on the employment outcome of students from HEIs, based upon the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) first destination survey. Until these PIs are more fully developed, the data available nationally from the survey provide only tentative information. Therefore we look to HEIs to supplement that information with their own evidence of their students' success in employment. FECs should provide their own evidence in the same way. All institutions should state the extent to which their evidence has been quality assured.
25. Institutions also should explain what contribution their bid makes to:
    • developing the knowledge and skills that students will need in employment
      and
      
    • responding to employment needs.

    Institutions should describe those elements of the programme that aim to improve students' employability. They should also refer to relevant analyses of employment needs, and should demonstrate why they are especially well placed to address those needs. Where relevant, institutions should provide information on external demand, such as labour market demand, through reference to support for their bids from sponsors and employers.

26. We will also look to HEIs and FECs to develop effective strategies for responding to critical skills shortages and gaps.

    Assessment information	Source
    Employment record of previous students *	Information submitted with bids, and HESA first destination survey. This will take into account the subject studied and students' previous educational experience
    Description of programme elements *	Information submitted with bids
    Analyses of employment needs and external demand *	Information submitted with bids

    Quality

27. We wish to ensure that there are more opportunities for students to experience high quality HE, and therefore we will examine evidence about the quality of institutions' learning and teaching. Institutions may wish to comment on the information about their provision that is available to us in the sources listed below. In addition, institutions may wish to provide information about both their own assessment of the quality of learning and teaching and any external assessments they have received. Where bids seek to extend existing courses, we would expect the evidence to relate mainly to those courses. Where bids are for new courses, we will look for evidence of quality across a range of current provision at the institution and for information about quality assurance arrangements. Where there has been no assessment of existing HE provision, we would take into account evidence of the quality in institutions' FE teaching.
28. We will look favourably on bids which provide identified benefits to students through developments in the student learning environment. For example, benefits might be realised through collaboration between institutions, through the use of subject-based good practice and innovation in learning and teaching, or through the provision of specialist facilities. Institutions should describe the facilities available, particularly where laboratories and high cost equipment are necessary.

    Assessment information	Source
    Quality assessment outcomes	QAA, FEFC inspection reports
    External assessment reports at programme and institutional level and reports from professional and accreditation bodies	Reference in bids to relevant reports
    Statistics on student progression in HE	PIs on student progression
    Institutions' links with other HE providers *	Information submitted with bids
    Good practice and innovation in learning and teaching *	Information submitted with bids

    Student demand

29. Institutions should explain how their bids respond to unmet student demand, and should refer to evidence of that demand, either for the institution as a whole or for specific, related programmes. We would expect the evidence to include an evaluation of data on past applications, recruitment and retention, and progression.

    Assessment information	Source
    Data on access and student progression	PIs in higher education
    Geodemographic information	Data provided on request to HEIs
    Data on completions, non-completions, achievement	PIs in higher education; PIs for FECs on retention rates
    Size of HE provision	Data returned to the HESES & HEIFES surveys

    Specific priorities

    Rewarding high quality in learning and teaching

30. Under this priority, we aim to reward institutions that can show evidence of high quality in learning and teaching. Therefore bids addressing this priority should be able to demonstrate high quality through the information they provide under paragraphs 26 and 27 above.

    Widening access

31. In addition to the information provided under paragraphs 20-28 above, institutions seeking support to widen access should demonstrate how their particular programme widens access to groups currently under-represented in higher education. Bidders should note that simply increasing places for a programme is not in itself sufficient to demonstrate widening access. Bids should be for one or more of the options in paragraphs 31-33 below.

    Providing competency-based vocational qualifications below degree level

32. Bids addressing this option should:
    • specify the competencies that the bid will address and, in particular, the key personal and transferable skills that it will seek to develop in students
    • show how the bid will provide increased opportunities for students
    • explain the particular features of the institution that make it well placed to attract students locally
    • comment on the institution's success to date in widening participation
    • specify the opportunities that will exist for students to continue in higher education.

    Assessment information	Source
    Access data	PIs of access for full-time young and mature students
    Student progression	PIs of student progression from year of entry
    Achievement	PIs of learning outcomes (HEIs) PIs on achievement rates (FECs)
    Employability	HESA first destination survey. This will take into account the subject studied and students' previous educational experience

    Increasing the range of higher education options within a region

33. Bids addressing this option should:
    • show how the bid will provide increased opportunities for students
    • comment on the range of related options currently available in the region
    • show how the proposal will increase the current range of options
    • explain what impact the proposal will have regionally or sub-regionally.

    Assessment information	Source
    Existing provision by subject and region sub region	HESA data for HEIs; data from the FEFC and EDEXCEL for FECs

    Helping to meet skill shortages

34. Bids addressing this option should:
    • be consistent with the emerging economic development and skills strategy of the relevant RDA
    • refer to evidence from employers and others of skill shortages
    • specify the contribution that the bid will make to alleviating known skill shortages
    • explain what the institution will do to attract students to the programme
    • comment on the institution's success to date in addressing skill shortages.

    Assessment information	Source
    Information on skill shortages *	Data included in bids; information from RDAs
    Employment record of students in skill shortage areas *	Data included in bids and HESA first destination survey. This will take into account the subject studied and students' previous educational experience

    Bidding rules

    Eligibility

35. All HEIs and FECs directly funded by the Council are eligible to submit bids. We particularly welcome collaborative bids from institutions working in partnership. FECs will wish to take into account their choice of funding route in deciding the arrangements for bidding for additional places. FECs who wish to offer directly funded higher education programmes for the first time in 2000-01 should refer to HEFCE 99/36, which provides guidance on funding options.
36. Bids may be for full-time or part-time, undergraduate or postgraduate taught programmes. Bids for undergraduate provision may be at degree level or below, for example HNC and HND programmes.
37. Collaborative bids should be submitted by the lead institution, to ensure clear lines of accountability for student numbers, funds and quality assurance. We will allocate student places to the lead institution, which may be an HEI or an FEC. The collaboration may be specifically to deliver the additional student places or it may reflect longer term consortia funding arrangements involving clusters of FECs and HEIs, on the model set out in HEFCE 99/36.
38. We will not consider bids for funded student places in undergraduate medicine and dentistry, initial teacher training (primary and secondary), and subjects funded by the Department of Health.

    Student places

39. The Government indicated in December 1998 the new HE places that it would make available in 2000-01. These are:

    	Below degree	Degree	Postgraduate	Total
    Full-time	7,000	0	1,000	8,000
    Part-time	12,000	1,000	4,000	17,000
    Total	19,000	1,000	5,000	25,000

    These numbers, which are headcounts, are subject to confirmation in the Government's announcement towards the end of 1999. In addition, extra places will become available as a result of institutions under-recruiting against their targets for full-time undergraduate students. We will not know until January 2000 how many places this will release, but last year we redistributed 6,000 such places. Places available for redistribution will enable us to respond to bids for undergraduate degree places. In response to the Government's request last year, we will hold back some part-time places to enable institutions that are working with the University for Industry in the initial stage to develop joint provision of learning opportunities.

40. We encourage institutions to submit bids which will have a significant impact upon provision, while still being realistic about their rate of growth. When assessing bids, we will take into account the size of the institution's current HE provision. Thus we would expect to see some justification where a large HE provider is seeking small numbers. Equally, we would expect to see justification from a small HE provider seeking proportionally large numbers, and in respect of an FEC which has not hitherto provided any HE. In the case of bids for full-time undergraduate students, we would not normally expect to see any bids for fewer than 25 places.
41. Generally, we will allocate a single uplift in funding and student numbers for 2000-01. The funds and student numbers will roll into institutions' core provision for following years. These will not increase to allow for subsequent intakes where courses are for more than one year's duration. Institutions have flexibility in how they accommodate subsequent intakes; for example, they may choose to redeploy numbers and funds from other HE provision or, where appropriate, they may use the MaSN margin to increase places. We recognise that in particular circumstances institutions may have to phase their allocation across academic years; this includes institutions with fewer than 100 full-time equivalent students across all their HE programmes.
42. For a limited number of bids, which are seeking major strategic developments in a region, we will be prepared to consider providing additional funding and places for three years. We would expect these cases to be supported by an existing business plan for the development. Where we propose to offer support for three years, we will ask institutions to provide the business plan before we confirm the allocation.
43. We will adjust institutions' maximum student numbers (MaSNs) to reflect the allocation of additional places.

    Funding

44. We will fund successful bids at the sector standard rate in the relevant price group or groups. We will consolidate the funds in line with our teaching funding methodology.
45. It remains open to FECs and HEIs to agree that existing directly funded programmes should transfer to become indirectly funded through an HEI. That may be particularly appropriate for small pockets of HE provision in FECs and, in such cases, we would fund the provision at standard rates rather than migrate funding over a period of years.

    Monitoring

46. We will publish details of successful bids.
47. The allocation of funds for teaching and research is informed by the data we collect from institutions. We will continue to audit these data selectively in this and future funding exercises. In addition, we may use data which institutions provide to HESA or to the FEFC, to verify the data they submit directly to the HEFCE. The funds and student places allocated to successful bids will be subject to the conditions of grant set down in the funding agreement between the HEFCE and each institution.
48. We will collect information on the recruitment of additional student places. This will include data to show separately recruitment to full-time and part-time places, and to courses below degree level, and at degree and postgraduate levels. We may audit the extent to which institutions have implemented their allocations. As last year, we shall pay particular attention to the extent to which institutions have recruited the full number of places below degree level, taking account of the additional places allocated below degree level in 1999-2000 and the places below degree level which the institution already provided.

    Presentation

49. We are not limiting the number of bids that institutions may make; however, we advise institutions to note particularly the comments in paragraph 21 about the benefits of drawing together the individual elements within a single bid. Institutions wishing to bid should complete the cover sheet and template which we will provide on disk. They may also submit a maximum of four pages (eight sides) of supplementary information. We encourage institutions to refer to supplementary information rather than include it in their bid. For information, a copy of the template and cover sheet are at Annex A, together with detailed notes of guidance on their completion. We will send the disks to institutions by 30 September 1999.

    Assessment of bids

50. An advisory panel will assess bids and advise the HEFCE Board.

    Timetable

51. Institutions should post the disk, plus one hard copy of the information and any supplementary information, to Faye Davis, Additional Numbers Team, HEFCE, Northavon House, Coldharbour Lane, Bristol, BS16 1QD, to arrive by 1700 on 2 November 1999. We will acknowledge receipt of all bids.
52. We will announce allocations by the end of February 1999.

Annex A

Available for download:

Additional notes on completion of the spreadsheets: Word         RTF

The spreadsheets