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Submission by the Higher Education Funding Council for England to the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education

November 1996

Reference M 27/96

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Contents

	Executive Summary
I	Introduction
II	The Purposes of Higher Education
III	Size of Higher Education
IV	Teaching and Learning
V	Research
VI	Shape of Higher Education
VII	Funding
Annex A:	Purposes of Higher Education
Annex B:	HEFCE Special Initiatives
Annex C:	Units of Resource 1989-90 to 1998-99

Submission by the Higher Education Funding Council for England to the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education

Executive Summary

Purposes of Higher Education

1. The HEFCE believes that the purposes of higher education (HE) set out by the Robbins Committee 30 years ago are still relevant today, but have been expanded to put more emphasis on preparing people for work, and responding to the needs of industry and commerce. A challenge for the future will be to balance these considerations with the wider social purposes of higher education.

Maintaining Levels of Funding

2. Student numbers have doubled in recent years, but the amount of funding per student is continuing to decline. Any further per capita reductions will risk damaging the high quality and standards of education that have been maintained so far: funding per student must be kept at an acceptable level. The balance of contributions made by the State, by students and by other stakeholders must be decided before other questions about the nature, size and scope of HE can be considered.

Size of the HE Sector

3. The HEFCE maintains that there should be no further expansion of higher education at the expense of an erosion of funding levels. With that proviso, there are good reasons to plan for a significant increase in student numbers: it is likely that there will be strong demand from students who can benefit from HE, and it will be in the national interest to satisfy that demand.

Teaching and Learning

4. The student population has become much more diverse and will continue to be so. There are more mature students, with a variety of backgrounds and qualifications, and more people from previously under-represented groups such as women, ethnic minorities and people with disabilities. Further changes will be needed to respond to the demands of this diverse population.

5. There is likely to be increasing demand for:

• a. Courses other than the consecutive three or four year degree.
• b. Access to HE all year round.
• c. Professional updating and life-long learning.
• d. More local provision.
• e. More flexible ways to study, such as work-based learning, modular and part-time courses and distance learning.
  

6. As students have more say in when, where and what they study, institutions will have to consider:

• a. Changes to the way courses are organised and delivered.
• b. New teaching and learning methods.
• c. How to assess and support students effectively.
• d. A more customer-oriented approach - if students are paying for their education they are likely to place new demands on HE providers.
• e. Implications for staff development of increased pressures on staff.
  

7. Developments in technology will help. There is a great deal of potential to exploit technology for teaching and learning. However, the full costs and benefits of IT are not clearly understood. Investment in technology may not be able to replace investment in staff and more traditional resources.

8. Centrally funded programmes to encourage innovation and good practice in teaching and learning should continue and perhaps be expanded. The Council believes that expenditure of between 2 and 3 per cent of its funds for this purpose is fully justified, though this could be increased through greater collaboration between the Council, other agencies and Government.

9. Maintaining and improving the quality of the student learning experience is of central importance. Institutions will need to continue to demonstrate the high quality of their educational provision. The new independent quality assurance agency, established jointly by the Funding Councils, CVCP and SCOP, will need to work with institutions to secure its objectives of public accountability, public information and quality improvement.

Research

10. The Council believes that the dual support system for funding research has many strengths, and should continue. It believes that although all HEIs should be eligible to compete for research funding, research funds should continue to be allocated selectively. However, it also seeks to maintain a broad base of research and training, and to develop new and interdisciplinary areas of work.

11. The Council's role in funding research is valuable because:

• a. It funds teaching and research and so can take an overall view of the health of individual institutions.
• b. Its funding is not tied to particular projects - its role is primarily to fund the research infrastructure and basic research.
• c. Institutions can use the comparatively stable income from the Council to make long-term investments in gifted researchers.
• d. It benefits the arts and humanities, which do not have a research council or much funding from industry.
• e. Institutions and individual academics can use Council funds at their discretion, which gives them a role in the future direction of research. If research is entirely directed by central bodies then innovation will be stifled.
  

12. The dual support transfer in 1992 has led to an increase in the volume of research and an erosion of the research infrastructure. This will affect the long-term health of the higher education sector, and the efficiency of the nation's research capacity. The Council believes that the body which is responsible for supporting the research infrastructure should not provide its funds primarily for projects.

Shape of Higher Education

13. The student population and the higher education system will become increasingly diverse. Instead of competing across the board, in future more institutions might have distinct roles, specialising at a level or in subjects in which they have particular strengths, and relying on collaboration with others to fill gaps in their coverage.

14. Care will be needed to maintain a number of world-class institutions which compare internationally with the best universities in the world.

15. With increasing diversity, it will be essential for the new quality agency to find a way to differentiate between standards, and to assure a minimum level across the sector.

16. The Council believes that market forces, student choice and the self-interest of individual institutions should continue to be primary instruments of change, reinforced by financial and other inducements provided through the funding mechanism. Nevertheless, in the future, more central intervention may be required to achieve diversity and differentiation between institutions and more co-operation.

Funding Mechanism

17. The principle of an intermediate body to allocate funds for teaching and for the research infrastructure and basic research is a good one, and should continue. This has worked well, enabling the Government to determine overall public investment in HE and general policy at a high level, without becoming involved in detailed policy making or decisions about the funding of individual institutions

18. So long as universities are carrying out postgraduate teaching and research, and the HE Funding Councils are responsible for funding them, the present arrangements for channelling funds to HE institutions on a national basis, and the present broad span of responsibilities of the Funding Councils, should be maintained.

I Introduction

19. The HEFCE welcomes the establishment of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education and the opportunity this provides to consider in depth the future development of the sector. The Council has a unique role in English higher education and the analysis and views contained in this paper reflect the experience of fulfilling that role.

20. The past decade has seen enormous changes in higher education. Student numbers have almost doubled. The binary line has been abolished and the number of universities has increased from 35 to 72. Since 1989-90, the amount of public funding per student has reduced in real terms by 31 per cent. There have been changes in the structure of higher education, in the scope of what is provided and in approaches to teaching and learning. This has been a time of great innovation and creativity. Higher education has been enormously responsive to the needs of society; many universities and colleges, and many individual courses within them, are closely integrated with their communities and with local and regional employers.

21. The HEFCE and its predecessor funding bodies have played a key role in enabling these developments. Despite the rate and scope of change and the enormous strains that these have put on the sector, universities and colleges for the most part have succeeded in improving quality and in maintaining their standards. Furthermore, UK higher education continues to attract students and research funding from all over the world: in 1995-96 UK higher education institutions (HEIs) attracted more than 189,000 overseas and EC students and in 1994-95 £201 million in research contracts from overseas.

22. Although more changes will be needed to respond to the developments described in this paper, universities and colleges have shown that they, and the system within which they function, are sufficiently dynamic to be able to accept further changes and to build on their existing structures. The HE system now requires a clear vision for its future role and an understanding of how it will be funded.

II The Purposes of Higher Education

23. The Council believes that the purposes of higher education described by the Robbins Committee more than 30 years ago remain valid today. These are being met by higher education institutions, and have been developed as emphases have changed. In particular, HEIs are now more explicitly concerned with preparing young people for working life, and responding to the needs of industry and commerce. A challenge for the future will be to maintain a balance between this and the less utilitarian purposes of higher education. Important though the economic role of HE is, it is essential that its focus should remain long-term. HE should not simply be regarded as an employment filter, nor is its purpose simply to prepare students for their first job.

24. The purposes of HE can be stated under the following headings:

• a. Civilisation and values.
• b. Developing, storing and transmitting knowledge.
• c. Meeting the needs of the economy and industry.
• d. Meeting the aspirations and needs of students.
• e. Serving local and regional communities
• f. HE as a tradable activity.

25. Each contributes significantly to the nation's economic and social wealth, or more widely to its moral and cultural life. These categories are expanded at Annex A.

26. The Council put forward these views in its submission to the Secretary of State for Education (as she then was) in February 1995. It notes with interest that a recent DfEE publication, summarising responses to that Inquiry, reported a wide consensus about the role of higher education.

III Size of Higher Education

Recent Changes

27. The increase in student numbers has been well documented. The proportion of young people entering higher education had been stable for nearly two decades at between 12 and 14 per cent; between 1987 and 1994 it more than doubled to over 30 per cent. This reflected an increase in school pupils staying on after the age of 16. This trend became evident in the mid 1980s and is being maintained, indicating a permanent change in social attitudes and aspirations.

28. No less significant has been the increase in the number of adult students, who now account for a majority. Numbers have been increasing at a faster rate than in the number of young students.

29. The nature of the student population has also changed. Institutions are successfully reaching students previously under-represented in the HE population: students from ethnic minorities are now well represented as a whole (although there are differences between particular ethnic groups and between institutions); women make up about half of the student population; and there have been increases in the number of disabled students. (See `Widening Access to Higher Education' (HEFCE 1996)).

30. The higher education system appears to have been less successful in providing for students from lower social classes. Information about this is patchy, but even in this respect, it may have been more successful than is apparent. It is likely that among the rapidly increasing numbers of mature and part-time students are disproportionate numbers of students from lower social classes who may have failed to obtain the education qualifications needed for entry into higher education on leaving school.

Future Demand and Supply

31. Much has been achieved hitherto. For the future, the HEFCE's submission to the Secretary of State's review of higher education, referred to above, said that there should be no further expansion of higher education at the expense of an erosion of funding levels. This view has been reinforced by the Budget settlement in 1995, which worsened an already deteriorating financial position.

32. With that proviso, there are nevertheless good reasons to plan for a significant increase in the number of students participating in higher education. The case rests on the likelihood that there will be strong demand from students with the ability to benefit, and that it will be in the national interest to satisfy such demand.

33. As far as student demand is concerned there are certain features and trends:

• a. Demand from young people is likely to remain buoyant as increased numbers staying on post-16 are achieving higher levels of educational attainment. Of particular relevance is the increasing number of young people pursuing advanced vocational qualifications (GNVQs and NVQs). If present trends and the Government's plans continue, this will greatly increase the pool of young people qualified for HE.
• b. The trend in adult participation in HE is likely to continue. More older people are entering further education, achieving higher levels of educational attainment and progressing to HE. There is more encouragement and opportunity for older people who missed out on HE to have a second chance of entry. The priority now given to skill updating and lifelong learning will also increase the likelihood that people will return to HE throughout their working lives (there was an increase of 76 per cent between 1988 and 1993 in recorded participation in continuing professional development), and even beyond.
• c. Participation in HE has been dominated by people from social classes A and B, especially among those who enter through traditional routes with A-levels. The non-white collar classes are a large part of the population largely untouched by HE, who provide great potential for increased participation.
• d. Despite recent increases, participation in HE in many other Western countries - including other parts of the UK - remains higher than in England. There seems every reason, when Western culture and experiences are converging, for England to continue to advance in this respect.
• e. There is a wide consensus, amongst political interests and employer and employee representative bodies, in favour of increased initial and continuing professional and work-related skills training. The Government's own national target requires an increase in people educated or trained to HE level to nearly one-third of the working population by the year 2000.
  

34. Even if there were not an economic case for expanding higher education, it would be justified on the basis of increased equity and its contribution to the cultural and spiritual well-being of the nation. However, there are strong grounds for believing that an expansion of higher education will also be in the economic interests of the country. Virtually all countries with greater participation in higher education than the UK are also more successful economically. No causal relationships can be assumed, and it is possible that there may be an inverse causal relationship, with prosperous countries being able to afford higher education as a social rather than an economic good. However, the fact that so many developing nations are investing heavily in higher education in the belief that this will be a key to economic growth, and are at the same time succeeding in their economic aspirations, suggests a link.

35. Two studies commissioned by the Council, jointly with the Committee of Inquiry, will bear on this. First is a study into the costs and benefits of expanding participation among non-traditional groups. As discussed above, if there is to be growth, it is likely to come from groups who have not previously participated; participation among the children of relatively affluent parents is at a very high level and is unlikely to provide the main basis for further expansion. The second is a study into the employment experience of recent graduates. This will shed light on the economic impact on the beneficiaries of higher education, and give an indication of which higher education experiences are most conducive to successful employment.

IV Teaching and Learning

Developments in Teaching and Learning

36. The Council's quality assessments continue to show high quality teaching and learning throughout the sector. Higher education in the UK continues to attract interest around the world and high regard for the standards and quality of its teaching and learning. This is a testament to the ability of HE institutions to respond to change, and to their innovation and dynamism in the development of teaching and learning practice. This dynamism will need to be maintained as higher education faces further changes.

37. In particular, if higher education continues to expand as described above, then a more diverse student population will impact on the nature of teaching and learning.

• a. More students will wish to pursue courses other than the traditional consecutive three or four year degree; in particular, some will seek shorter initial courses. In a system of credit accumulation and transfer, it may matter less than now what, if any, terminal qualification they obtain at the end of their initial period of HE, though this will depend to some extent on employer attitudes. Many will, as now, proceed in due course to top up their initial period of study with a further one or two years, to gain a full degree. For these students their initial period of HE will not be an end in itself, but an initial step in a flexible process.
• b. The entry of people with different qualifications and educational backgrounds may have implications for teaching and learning. For example, entrants with GNVQs will have experienced different learning processes from those of traditional A-level entrants (such as active learning and the development of communication, planning and evaluative skills). This may influence the nature of HE provision. On the other hand, the level of academic coverage of GNVQ programmes may leave students ill-equipped for conventional degree programmes and thus lead to a realignment of undergraduate standards and levels of study.
• c. The demand from employers and students for more continuing vocational education (CVE) and professional updating will require more flexible patterns of provision, such as work-based learning and a wider variety of part-time provision, including distance learning, open learning and short courses. A key issue will be where students undertake much of this type of higher education. Options include the institutions where they obtained their initial qualifications, which may entail distance learning; local HE institutions; local FE colleges; and possibly private providers of HE.
• d. The increased availability of distance learning may particularly affect CVE, enabling students to enrol for specific courses with private as well as public providers, anywhere in the world. On the other hand, the most successful providers of continuing education have found that it requires close partnerships to be formed between the individual, the employer and the HE or FE institution.
• e. As a wider mix of students pursue more flexible HE programmes over longer periods, their financial commitment will increase. This in turn will lead to a more pronounced customer-oriented approach, with students placing new demands on HE providers.
  

38. Although the traditional higher education course will continue to be important, many students will not undertake all their higher education at one time. Greater flexibility will be required as students have more say in when, where and what they study. These developments can already be observed.

• a. Numbers of mature students, and people involved in lifelong learning, are increasing.
• b. Modular systems are evolving, allowing students more choice of subjects.
• c. There are the beginnings of a national system of credit accumulation, and perhaps in the future credit transfer, to give students flexibility in terms of the time, place, level and subject of study.
• d. Provision is becoming more student-centred, taking advantage of technology and open learning.
• e. The length of HE experience is increasing over a student's lifetime, with initial HE followed by professional updating, vocational development and retraining.
• f. An increasing (though still small) number of students are taking a two-year qualification initially, and topping it up with further study, to achieve a full first degree.

39. Further development of HE provision on these lines will have a number of implications.

• a. Courses will need to be organised differently. For example, the different stages of HE may require a different mix of general and specific education; and arrangements will be needed to recognise intermediate qualifications and accreditation gained in the initial cycle. Consideration might be given to developing common curricula, at least in the initial cycle.
• b. Courses will have to be delivered differently as students demand access to HE all year round, as already demonstrated in the Council's Accelerated and Intensive Routes programme. More courses may also have to be delivered at the student's workplace.
• c. Changes in the organisation and delivery of courses will require effective teaching and learning strategies, and new approaches to assessing and supporting students. More flexibility will require proper academic counselling to help students make choices. Institutions will also need to ensure that student progress is monitored and that quality assurance systems are in place.
• d. There will be more pressure on academic staff, because of both increasing numbers of students and changes in the teaching process. More attention will need to be paid to training and motivation.
• e. Institutions will have to be more responsive to the changing expectations of students, especially those returning for periods of top-up teaching who are likely to be more demanding than school leavers. Their expectations will extend not just to the teaching process, but also to the quality of resources and the environment.
• f. There will be a need for more locally-based provision, particularly as part-time attendance increases, and as students demand more higher level retraining and updating. This could coincide with an increase in demand for local provision by young students on initial courses, perhaps because of student support arrangements. If so, it might profoundly affect both HE institutions in areas with a wealth of provision in relation to their local population, and many small scale providers (often FE colleges) in more remote areas with no mainstream HE institution in the immediate area.
  

Technology

40. Developments in technology will assist such changes. The Council has already invested heavily in communications technologies, like the high-speed IT network SuperJANET, which make it much easier to access information from remote locations. The Council also supports developments in the way information is stored and delivered. These are fundamentally affecting the nature and potential of libraries, with implications for teaching (including distance education) and research. Developments in technology assisted learning, such as those encouraged by the HEFCE's Teaching and Learning Technology Programme (TLTP), will allow new approaches to learning and may lead to different, more economic, and perhaps more effective relations between students and academic staff. There is a great deal of further potential to exploit technology for teaching and learning.

41. However, the full costs and benefits of the use of IT in teaching and learning need to be properly considered to assess how far it can be used to bring about change in higher education. A study of the costs and benefits of IT-assisted teaching and learning has therefore been commissioned by the Council. In the meantime, the Council's experience suggests a degree of caution in making assumptions about the extent to which investment in technology can replace investment in staff and more traditional resources.

Special Funding

42. In the light of these changes, the Council has supported a range of initiatives, and research and development programmes, to encourage the development of effective teaching and learning. A description of these is at Annex B.

43. Many of these initiatives are designed to encourage innovation and good practice. All must meet the following criteria:

• a. There should be a perceived national (or regional) need for the activity.
• b. The activity should not be capable of being undertaken by institutions collectively; or such collective action should be very unlikely.
• c. The activity must be supported by institutions.
• d. The activity must offer the possibility of enhanced performance or an efficiency saving (preferably both).
• e. The activity should be sustainable.

44. There is a great deal of good practice and innovation in teaching and learning, but much of it needs fostering and disseminating more widely. The Council has found that incentive funding through its initiatives has proved to be an effective way of achieving this, though at present it spends less than 3 per cent of its budget in this way.

45. Such centrally funded programmes will need to continue and perhaps be expanded to ensure the development of innovation and good practice in teaching and learning over the next 20 years. However, such expenditure is top sliced from Council funds which would otherwise be provided to institutions as part of their block grant, to spend at their discretion. A balance has to be struck, but the Council believes that continued expenditure of between 2 and 3 per cent of its funds for this purpose is well justified. The total amount available could be increased through greater collaboration and joint activities between the Council, other agencies and Government, to optimise special funding and provide coherence in the national support of initiatives. In the research sphere, useful collaborations already exist: for example between the Council and the Office of Science and Technology and DfEE for providing research equipment; and between the Council and the British Academy Humanities Research Board for providing fellowships.

Maintaining and Improving Quality

46. Maintaining and improving the quality of the student learning experience is central to any further change in the nature of teaching and learning. Institutions will need to continue to demonstrate that they provide a high quality educational experience for students.

47. The Council assesses the quality of provision through its quality assessment programme. It has published reports on over 800 quality assessment visits, and 15 overview reports reviewing the findings from all the assessments in a particular subject. (The next eight subject overview reports are to be published in November 1996.) The overall picture that emerges is a reassuring one: the great majority of students are receiving a high quality education. In most assessments, subject providers demonstrate high achievement in meeting the aims and objectives they set for the education of their students. In the context of an expanded HE system, and the continuing decline in the unit of resource for higher education, the results attest to the hard work and dedication of staff in HE institutions.

48. Quality assessment accounts for public investment in HE, and provides public information on the quality of HE. It also promotes quality improvement, both through the interaction with peers and through the reports, which highlight areas to be improved as well as areas of high achievement. The Council knows from discussions with subject providers, and also from surveys of those who have been assessed, that quality assessment has sharpened the focus on teaching and learning and stimulated thinking on ways to improve quality.

49. A research programme has been initiated to gather more systematic information on the impact of quality assessment. The Council has already published a report on the characteristics of excellent education identified by assessors, and a report on the main areas in which assessors have made recommendations for improvement. Two further research projects have been commissioned: one on the extent to which the assessors' recommendations have been acted upon, and one on the impact on assessors themselves of participation in quality assessment. The results will be published in summer 1997.

50. Where provision has been assessed as unsatisfactory, the Council's policy is that funding may be withdrawn in whole or in part. So far, provision found to be deficient on first assessment has either improved sufficiently by the time of re-assessment to be re-graded as satisfactory, or has been withdrawn before re-assessment.

51. The focus on quality is likely to be sharpened through the new independent agency, which the Funding Councils, CVCP and SCOP have jointly agreed to establish. The Council will work with the new quality agency and with institutions to secure the objectives that it pursues through quality assessment: public accountability, public information and quality improvement.

V RESEARCH

Public Funding of Research

52. In this country, as in all advanced countries, the Government has a substantial role in providing funds for research. Although industry and commerce have a large research commitment, their role tends to be to take established knowledge and apply it. Government investment is required to create the knowledge on which industrial research can build. For the most part, industry does not engage in speculative basic research, whose returns are uncertain and whose benefits unpredictable and general. However, such research is the lifeblood of a thriving industrial base; it is the seed-corn for more applied research, and in all Western countries such research is substantially funded by the Government. The humanities, social sciences and arts in particular rely on public funds, since they do not benefit from funding from industry or, to a great extent, charities. Research in these fields makes an important contribution to moral, cultural, spiritual and even economic development.

53. Public funding of research is coming under pressure from two sources. First, there is a steadily increasing amount of research to be done: public funders of research throughout the world are experiencing increasing demand for limited funds. Secondly, scientific research - especially research at the leading edge - is increasingly expensive to undertake. These are compelling reasons for continuing to provide research funds selectively.

Research in Higher Education

54. HEIs receive funds for research and research training from a variety of public and private sources, including UK and EC governments, charities, and industrial and other users of research.

55. Under the dual support system, the higher education funding councils and the Research Councils are more or less equally responsible for providing most UK government funds to HEIs for research. The Council believes this system has many strengths, and should continue. It also believes that all HEIs should continue to be eligible to compete for research funding. However, not all those eligible will be successful in obtaining public funding for research, and they should consider carefully whether to compete, in the light of their missions and strengths. The intensity of research activity should be related to the quality of research undertaken, and hence research funds should continue to be allocated selectively.

56. Higher education provides the main research infrastructure for the nation. The subject coverage is extensive, and the range of activity is enormous. It includes basic research into fundamental new areas of knowledge, strategic research to focus the outcomes of basic research onto particular problems or areas of interest, and applied work aimed at a particular customer or application. Interdisciplinary research in particular is facilitated by being conducted in multi-disciplinary institutions.

57. Students also benefit enormously by being taught in a research-rich environment, whether or not their teachers conduct research themselves. In this country, as elsewhere in the world, the best research takes place in universities which also provide for undergraduate and postgraduate students.

The Role of the HEFCE

58. The main purposes of the Council's grant for research are:

• a. To provide for the research infrastructure in universities (including permanent academic staff salaries).
• b. To cover most of the costs of basic, pre-competitive research undertaken by universities.
• c. To contribute to the substantial fixed costs of postgraduate research education, particularly staff, premises, equipment, libraries and other essential facilities.
  

59. In providing for the research infrastructure, the Funding Councils enable basic research to be undertaken. They also provide funds to enable institutions to undertake collaborative research with industry, charities and other users. The Funding Councils are unique amongst funders of research in providing grant for these purposes.

60. The Council strongly supports the present arrangements whereby responsibility for distributing Government funding for research is shared with the Research Councils. It believes that its role in this dual support system is valuable for the following reasons.

• a. The Council funds both teaching and research, and maintains direct and well established relationships with all institutions in the sector. This allows it to take an overall view of the financial health of individual institutions, and of the higher education sector as a whole. It can also encourage institutions to develop in ways which reflect their strengths in teaching and research and their potential contribution to both. A different approach to funding would be required if research were conducted not primarily in universities but in dedicated research institutes, as in some other countries. But as long as both teaching and research are carried out in the same institutions, there will be benefit in a body that funds both functions.
• b. The Council's funding is not tied to particular projects. It provides the core funding which enables universities to pursue their own strategies for teaching and research, and to respond to funding opportunities offered by other agencies such as industry and charities, whose aims are more focused and circumscribed. It allows institutions to develop new researchers and to foster interdisciplinary research and new subject areas.
• c. For the stronger research institutions in particular, the comparative stability of the funding provided by the Council allows them to make long-term investments in gifted researchers which would not be possible if they relied entirely on project funding. It also allows them to invest in equipment and buildings which can be used in both basic research and collaborative projects with others. This can be very cost-effective, and would not be possible if all funding were project-based.
• d. The arts and humanities do not have a research council, and enjoy hardly any funding from industry. These areas rely almost entirely on the funding councils for research funding.

61. The plurality of funding sources available to universities allows a range of judgements to influence the direction of research. Although the Council's contribution is allocated selectively and on a competitive basis, it is not earmarked. The current arrangements allow for national planning but also give institutions - and above all the research staff within them - the discretion to make their own judgements about what research to pursue themselves and what to undertake in collaboration with users of research and other funders. This gives them a role in the future direction of research: if research is entirely directed by central bodies then innovation will be stifled.

62. For this approach to succeed, robust institutional management is required. A recent review of the Council's policy of selective distribution of research funds demonstrated that research in the sector is well managed overall, despite the obvious financial pressures. It also demonstrated the diversity of research missions which have been encouraged by the Council's policy.

63. An Office of Science and Technology (OST) review of the dual support arrangements put in place in 1992 identified an increase in research volume without a corresponding increase in funding. This is contrary to the commitments given at that time. Those who sponsor projects naturally wish to get the best return on their funds by obtaining the maximum volume of research activity. This may appear logical from the point of view of the individual funders of research projects, but this may be harmful to the health of the research base as a whole: apparent gains in volume may be at the expense of erosion of the infrastructure. Recent experience suggests therefore, that the body responsible for funding the research infrastructure should preferably not provide funds primarily for research projects.

64. HEFCE research related grant formed 34 per cent of the research specific income received by HEFCE-funded institutions in 1994-95. This proportion has been falling steadily. The balance between investment in the infrastructure and in the volume of research is a critical issue for the long-term health of the higher education sector, and for the efficiency of the nation's research capacity.

65. Although the Funding Councils do not tie their funds to particular projects, they do seek accountability through annual reports on the way institutions allocate resources provided for research. Research Assessment Exercises (RAEs) are conducted periodically by the Funding Councils to inform the allocation of grants for research. They are the only systematic and comprehensive assessment of the overall research output of each academic grouping. RAEs are now an integral feature of research funding in higher education and are arguably the most sophisticated and extensive assessments of research performance in the world.

66. The humanities and arts subjects do not benefit from a place in the dual support system. The Council therefore takes a particular interest in these subjects and has worked closely with the British Academy Humanities Research Board to identify and respond to their needs. It is essential that future arrangements to fund research take full account of the arts and humanities.

Selectivity

67. The Council has been concerned from its inception to ensure the best possible use of the public funds it allocates, to achieve the maximum research return to the nation. To do so it has allocated the vast majority of funds selectively according to international and national standards of excellence in research, as assessed through RAEs. The Council is more selective in allocating funds than its predecessors the UFC and the UGC. 73 per cent of its funding for research in science, engineering and medicine is provided to 20 institutions, compared with 71 per cent to 20 institutions by the Research Councils, and 66 per cent to 20 institutions by industry.

68. The policy of selectivity has allowed institutions funded by the Council to free gifted researchers to undertake high quality work. It has also encouraged institutions to be selective themselves and to focus effort and resources on areas of strength. Institutions strongest in research have gained additional funds as a result of the policy and have used these to maintain their positions of international excellence.

69. The Council has sought to balance the requirement for selectivity with other objectives. Notably, it seeks to maintain a broad base of research and training across the subject areas in which research is undertaken, and to encourage research potential and the development of new and interdisciplinary areas of work. The Council allocates a very limited amount (£16 million out of a total of £637 million in 1996-97) to develop research potential in institutions not funded for research before 1992. The report on selectivity confirmed that institutions receiving only small sums from the Council have been successful in obtaining funds from other sponsors, particularly for applied work, which tends to be focused on interdisciplinary projects and new subject areas.

70. Overall, the Council's policies have resulted in a diverse portfolio of research in higher education, which has increased in both quality and quantity.

71. An alternative to the policy of selectivity would be to concentrate research funds to institutions which have a pervasive research mission and demonstrate quality in research across a range of subjects. (In fact, very few institutions can demonstrate the highest quality consistently across a wide spread of subjects.)

72. However, to restrict research funding to a limited number of institutions would be likely to reduce the diversity of the nation's research portfolio, would reduce competition and would risk ossification. Moreover, a research and development capacity in an HE institution - even if not in all departments - provides student access to a research ethos and prevents HE teaching and learning from taking place in a research and development desert.

73. For these reasons the Council believes that it should continue with its present policy of selectivity, ensuring that most funds are channelled to the best departments, but enabling all institutions to compete for funds.

Research Assessment

74. The RAE, described above, produces judgements on quality which allow the Council to fund selectively. The Council is well aware of concerns that such periodic exercises can affect the conduct of research in higher education. The Council and its predecessor bodies have reviewed the nature and conduct of RAEs after each exercise, to ensure that methods are robust and to minimise undesirable effects, and will be doing so again after the 1996 exercise. RAEs have been continually refined over a decade, and even now the exercise is not perfect. However, some mechanism is needed to inform the selective distribution of funds, and this is probably the most sophisticated and sensitive system available.

VI Shape of Higher Education

Diversity and Differentiation

75. The higher education sector encompasses a wide range of institutions, from small monotechnics to large research-focused multi-faculty universities. Despite this diversity, there is a general perception that institutional missions have converged. Such convergence as has taken place may largely be explained by a combination of marketing and financial factors. From a marketing perspective, institutions seek to acquire the attributes traditionally perceived to be appropriate to a `good' university - for example, that it should undertake research. Financial pressures have led institutions to develop similar activities to secure funds from similar sources. Thus many institutions may have ambitions to build up research capabilities to attract additional finance.

76. The responsibility of each institution is, in the first instance, to secure its own success. But that success depends in the long term on the reputation of the whole sector and the extent to which it is fulfilling its broad purposes. In the future, greater differentiation will be required and more active collaboration between institutions.

77. Increasing diversity in the student population, along with an increase in student numbers, will require and may enable an increasingly diverse higher education system.

Some institutions will provide all levels of HE in a range of subjects. But they will have to make a conscious decision to do this and few will excel in all aspects. Different institutions have, and may discover, different strengths and different roles. Choices will have to be made, requiring institutions to be more focused in their activities and therefore more differentiated from their peers. FE colleges, HE colleges and universities with specific expertise and strengths may emerge more prominently in the future.

78. Differentiation of roles encompasses:

• a. The balance between teaching and research.
• b. The subjects provided.
• c. The categories of student for whom provision is made - full-time and part-time; sub-degree, undergraduate and postgraduate; initial and top-up.

79. In the past most higher education institutions competed across the board: there was limited scope for co-operation and no attempt at co-ordinating provision. Increased collaboration between providers of HE in the future may be more efficient. On a local and regional level, duplication of effort could be reduced through greater co-operation. Collaborative arrangements between institutions, other education and training providers and employers would enhance the local and regional role of higher education. There may also be scope to rationalise common services and provision, which may lead in some cases to mergers.

80. As HE develops in an increasingly modular way, with shorter cycles and more breakpoints between them, FE colleges might have an increasingly important role in providing the first cycle of HE, particularly in areas relatively remote from HE institutions. This would be a development of an existing role: nearly two thirds of sub-degree courses are provided by FE colleges, following which many students go on to complete a degree in an HE institution. Other institutions might undertake similarly distinct roles, in collaboration with neighbouring universities or colleges. Institutions might also be encouraged to specialise in subjects in which they have particular strengths, relying on collaboration with others to fill gaps in their coverage.

81. This suggests further changes in the relationship between further and higher education, an area which is presently very fluid. It also reinforces the need to establish, within a credit framework or otherwise, clear distinctions between levels of study. Further education colleges will continue to focus on providing further education and training up to HE level; similarly HE institutions will provide most of what is beyond this level. However, the boundary between the two sectors will not be clear cut, and FE colleges will continue to develop their role as important providers of HE which is distinct in character and level. (see `Higher Education in Further Education Colleges: Funding the Relationship' (HEFCE, 1996)).

To avoid duplication and mission drift, and also to optimise regional coverage, the HEFCE believes that there would be merit in requiring the further development of HE in FE colleges to take place in a structured way, based on co-operation between providers of HE in the area concerned.(see `Higher Education in Further Education Colleges: A Future Funding Approach' (HEFCE, 1996)).

82. At the other end of the scale, for academic as well as economic reasons, care will be needed to maintain a number of world-class institutions which compare internationally with the best universities in the world. This carries financial consequences as well as possible political difficulties, but these will need to be faced.

Quality and Standards

83. There has been a presumption in the past that all HE provision is made within the same broad framework of standards. This presumption needs to be reconsidered. Given such a wide range of providers (from FE colleges, where HE is a minority activity, to universities with international reputations) and students with such different abilities, aims and aptitudes, it would be surprising if considerable variations in standards did not already exist. This need not matter if the standards aspired to and achieved are well understood, if accurate information about them is widely available, and if the traditional virtues of academic rigour and excellence, and a good student experience, are maintained. A way needs to be found to differentiate between standards, and to assure a minimum level, across the sector. With increased differentiation this becomes increasingly important. Students in this country and overseas, as well as employers and funding bodies, need to have confidence in the standards of all HEIs. An essential early task of the new quality agency will be to address this point.

Constraints on Differentiation

84. The polarisation of staff in HE may be a problem if the system develops in such a differentiated way. Initial HE may be less attractive and carry less esteem than higher level activity, which may affect staff mobility. The motivation, rewards, morale and quality of academic staff will be key factors in the future, as in the past, and will have to be taken into account as changes are introduced.

85. There is some evidence from the quality assessment reviews carried out so far that departments most successful in research, and therefore attracting the most research funding, are among the most successful at teaching. For this reason, HE institutions may be reluctant to reduce their commitment to research. Furthermore, there may be implications for the nature and quality of teaching and learning in institutions with limited research activity.

86. A further issue which has arisen since the abolition of the binary line relates to nomenclature and in particular the role and status of HE colleges. For specialist colleges this may not be a problem, but for multi-disciplinary colleges, problems of identity may arise which affect mission and marketability both at home and overseas. This has led to the confusing adoption of ambiguous titles - something which affects FE colleges as well as HEIs. The Council has no powers in this area, but believes that it would be helpful if the question of titles and nomenclature were clarified and settled.

Steering the Sector

87. The HEFCE has to a large extent refrained from intervening directly in what institutions provide, and has relied upon individual HEIs to respond to the market and to their own self interest. However, where the national interest has appeared to demand it, and where reliance on the market has seemed insufficient, the Council has intervened with specific initiatives to encourage institutions to modify their provision. For example, following concern about the ability of the higher education sector to meet national needs with respect to former Soviet and East European studies, provision in these areas was reviewed and additional funding allocated. Similarly, additional funds and student places have been provided in recent years for science and engineering, and part-time courses.

88. Such initiatives have been framed in a way intended to encourage institutions themselves to respond. The Council has not intervened explicitly to direct institutions on the provision of subjects in the way, for example, that the UGC used to. The Council believes that its present approach is broadly correct, and that market forces, student choice and the self interest of individual institutions should continue to be the primary instruments of change, reinforced by financial and other inducements provided through the funding mechanism. The Council's primary role should be an enabling one, complemented by a development role to provide guidance, information and advice to assist institutions in the management of change and the maintenance of financial and academic health.

89. Nevertheless, if changes in the shape and structure of HE are to be brought about in the future, and in particular if greater differentiation in roles is thought to be desirable, then a greater degree of central intervention may be required to achieve this. The balance between reliance on the market and self interest on the one hand and on planning and direction on the other may need to shift towards a more explicitly interventionist role at the centre, to regulate the market in order to achieve greater diversity and differentiation between institutions and greater co-operation. In particular, emphasis will need to be given to protecting the interests of students, and to ensuring that choice is available and that national needs are met

VII Funding

Funding Levels

90. Higher education has in recent years experienced considerable reductions in per capita funding. Annex C shows the trend in units of resource (calculated as total public funding - recurrent and capital grant plus tuition fees - divided by Home and EC student full-time equivalents) for the ten year period 1989-90 to 1998-99. While grants and fees are planned to increase by only around 7 per cent in real terms over this period, the related increases (real and planned) in FTE student numbers result in a rapid decline in the average unit of resource per student.

91. To the extent that this reduction in per capita funding has been achieved through increases in efficiency, it is to be welcomed, and universities and colleges can be congratulated on a remarkable achievement. Efficiencies certainly have been made, and the recent growth in student numbers has been accompanied by a considerable dynamism in the sector, with new approaches to teaching and learning, new styles of provision, and a large variety of new courses tailored to the wider range of students. Many institutions are increasingly benefitting from the inputs of experienced lay members of their governing bodies with experience in parallel processes in commerce and industry.

92. The Committee has received details of initiatives by the Council and its predecessors to enable academic staff to maintain quality in the face of increasing numbers of students and other pressures. As noted in paragraph 41, the Council has commissioned, in collaboration with the Committee of Inquiry, a study to investigate the potential of information and communication technologies to help maintain high quality in the face of increasing numbers. The results will be important in assessing the extent to which new approaches to the delivery of teaching may reduce the need for increased funding to secure growth and to maintain quality and standards. But the Council is not aware of any reliable evidence that this has been achieved on a large scale elsewhere in the world.

93. Where scope for genuine further efficiencies exist, they will be seized by institutions. There may also be scope for encouraging more collaboration on a number of different levels: sectoral as boundaries between the HE and FE sectors become less distinct; institutional as missions become more differentiated; subject teaching as practice and curricula become more standardised; and perhaps research as facilities become increasingly specialised.

94. The Council believes that the imposition of further per capita reductions, which go beyond genuine efficiencies, would risk real damage to the quality and standards that have been maintained so far. If the reductions in real per capita income are greater than the genuine gains in productivity, and there is insufficient money to maintain plant or equipment, let alone make improvements, institutions will have to consider changes to the substance of what is offered and make other inroads into provision. For example, despite the recent increases in student:staff ratios, reflecting the per capita reductions in funding, many institutions have begun to reduce their academic staff numbers further in response to financial constraints. The extent to which this can continue without affecting quality is doubtful. This has implications for UK higher education's market position, and more widely for the ability of HE to deliver the highly skilled workforce necessary to improve the UK's competitiveness in a global knowledge-based economy.

95. If standards of provision are to be maintained, some means must be found to maintain funding per student at an acceptable level, which for some institutions may mean reversing some of the recent reductions. It is not for the Council to advise the Committee on the balance of contributions that should be made by the State, by students and by other stakeholders. However, this question will have to be answered before other questions about the nature, size and scope of the HE system can be considered. For its part, the Council will address the apparently large differences in the amounts currently received by different institutions for similar provision. In the proposed new funding method, similar activity will be funded at similar rates. However, this means only that the worse funded will gain at the expense of the relatively better funded; it will not address the issue of total funding.

Distribution Mechanisms

96. Whatever sum is made available from public sources can be provided either via the student, as with the present fee, or as institutional grant. The balance to be struck between the two will depend upon the extent to which the Government wishes on the one hand for student choice and market forces to shape the system, or on the other for there to be more central influence and control.

97. A body will be needed to distribute the public funds provided as institutional grant, and to ensure effective accountability for public funds and value for money. The system whereby Government funds are distributed to universities and colleges by an intermediate body has worked well in the past. It has enabled the Government to determine total public investment in HE and general policy at a high level, without becoming involved in detailed policy making or decisions about funding individual institutions, and also to receive objective advice on the overall state of higher education. Furthermore, it provides a means for introducing national initiatives and strategic developments in the HE sector, of the sort outlined in Annex B.

98. The Committee will not be surprised that the Council believes that this system should continue. The Council has been struck by the considerable interest from overseas in such arrangements, reflected in the creation of similar intermediate bodies, often based on the UK model. It is also aware that in a small number of cases where similar systems have been changed to direct Government funding, disadvantages have quickly become apparent.

99. The Council believes that the same body should be responsible for allocating funds for teaching and for the research infrastructure and basic research. So long as HEIs carry out both teaching and research, there are great strengths in a system which is responsible for the overall funding and financial health of those institutions, and which funds both functions.

100. There has been discussion from time to time about the creation of a single body responsible for funding both higher and further education. The rationale for such an arrangement is strengthened by the increasingly diverse nature of post-secondary education and training, the breaking down of barriers between academic and vocational education and training, and the increase in modular provision, with students taking modules at different levels.

101. However, despite this overlap and synergy, the FE and HE sectors remain largely distinct in institutional and academic terms, and further blurring of levels and current distinctions would not be helpful. In particular, it would be a matter of concern if it led to an upward mission drift by FE colleges. Moreover, the amount of funding and the span of responsibility, from post-GCSE through to world class research, would be too great for a single organisation to manage effectively. Cooperation between HE and FE funding councils in strategic matters is in hand and should bear increased fruits in future. On the other hand, the largely national and international role of HE requires a single national overview, within which regional and local interests can be managed.

102. The Council therefore believes that the national interest will be best served if the present arrangements for channelling funds to HE institutions, and the present broad span of responsibilities of the Funding Councils, continue in the future.

Annex A

Purposes of Higher Education

Civilisation and Values

1. HE has an important role to maintain and communicate the values of a pluralist society, and to have a civilising effect on that society. Furthermore, its role is to question, criticise and advance those values within a changing social, cultural and economic environment. It achieves this largely through the ethos and environment in which students and scholars are engaged; while the pressure on this environment is greater today than in Robbins' day, this feature of HE is no less relevant.

2. A respect in which HE stands apart from most other sectors is that it can legitimately claim to be concerned not only with the interests of society today, but also the needs of society in the future, and can justify its actions and decisions on these grounds. To this extent, it is answerable not only to the Government of the day, but also to wider and longer term interests.

Developing, Storing and Transmitting Knowledge

3. Research is the process of creating and extending knowledge, and reinterpreting existing knowledge in the light of developments in understanding and knowledge. This has been integral to the work of universities for the past 100 years or so, but the creation and extension of knowledge is not necessarily the preserve of HE institutions - in a number of overseas countries research and HE institutions are separate. However, looking beyond the institutional question, any country's HE system in the broadest sense needs this function to be performed.

4. The transmission of knowledge is part of the teaching process. One of the key functions of the HE system is to produce the next generation of scholars and researchers.

5. Scholarship - building on and developing the knowledge created by others - is a related function, which is essential for the provision of high quality higher education. At the very least, the activity of keeping up with developments in a subject is one in which all those who teach HE students must be engaged in order to enliven and maintain the relevance of their teaching.

6. The HE system represents a store house of knowledge which includes the individual academics, but it also includes physical facilities such as books, databases, journals and libraries. This is a national asset which needs to be preserved and developed.

7. HE is also about individuals learning to learn. The process of HE, and the skills and knowledge acquired enable individuals to benefit more widely in acquiring and using knowledge. The ability of learning to learn is particularly important in an advanced society where innovation and change is pervasive.

Meeting the Needs of the Economy and of Industry

Skilled workforce

8. A key function of the HE system is to ensure that the skilled workforce which is needed in a modern economy is made available, both at the highest level, which has been the traditional preserve of HE, and at intermediate levels. There has been an increasing emphasis on this function in recent years, with the needs of industry and commerce becoming more explicitly the concern of higher education, and the aim of meeting those needs growing in importance. A challenge for the future will be to maintain an appropriate balance between this and the less utilitarian purposes of higher education.

9. The skills which are required are of two types:

• a. Core Learning Skills. These include transferable skills, for example in languages, enterprise and communication - and base knowledge on which the knowledge and skills required in specific employment throughout working life can be built. This encompasses the flexibility of mind referred to by Robbins.
• b. Specific Skills. These embrace content specific learning, required to do a specific job or genus of jobs. This encompasses professional knowledge.

10. There is a further activity in which the HE system must be engaged, related to the workforce needs of the economy: updating and lifelong learning. The updating of skills, retraining and lifelong learning, were less of an issue 30 years ago, when students might graduate into a career and stay throughout their working life within that career, or even within a single job, exploiting the skills and knowledge acquired during their initial period of HE. This is no longer the case, and will be less so in the future, when people will have to update their knowledge and skills continually throughout their lives, and may have to face retraining for a new career on one or more occasions.

Research

11. The economy relies on the HE system not just for applied, but also for fundamental research. Representatives of industry have said clearly that they rely almost exclusively on universities for such research - the basic underpinning work on which applied research and development may build. On the other hand, industry also looks increasingly to HEIs to be partners in applied research and development, as witnessed by the very rapid growth in recent years in contract income received by HEIs from industry - up from £33 million in 1984 to £98 million in 1993.

12. There are considerable advantages in retaining the research and teaching functions in the same institutions. Students benefit from exposure to research methods and techniques, and take with them into their employment the ability to innovate and the research ethos. Knowledge transfer occurs not only through the direct transfer of discoveries between HEIs and industry, but through the transfer of the knowledge, skills and attitudes of students exposed to research activity, to the research ethos and to research techniques. Furthermore, the benefits HE brings to industry through technology transfer, teaching company schemes and the provision of experts is often unquantified yet significantly important in developing a competitive economy.

Meeting the Aspirations and Needs of Students

13. The other side of the coin of providing industry and commerce with a skilled workforce is to enable students to compete in the job market with the skills needed to secure work and also to function in employment. The HE system must do this, and as former students progress through their working lives it must enable them to update their knowledge and skills, and also to train for new employment.

14. There is a danger that pressures of employment and the demands of the economy will cause the wider purposes of HE to be lost. An important function of HE continues to be to enable students to develop and to mature, intellectually and socially. This is particularly so with young students, who will continue to be significant participants in HE, and students from a number of non-traditional backgrounds who are increasingly participating in HE. The wider benefits to society of more people from a wider range of backgrounds developing in this way need to be accounted for in the role of HE.

15. The purposes described hitherto can all be seen as a restatement or an extension of one or other of the Robbins objectives. There are two further purposes, which were not prominent 30 years ago, but which the HE system is increasingly required to meet.

Serving Local and Regional Communities

16. HE's role in serving local and regional communities has become increasingly important in two respects:

• a. As research by the CVCP has demonstrated, the presence of an HE institution has a significant impact on the development of a region in terms of its effect on employment and in the more general economic activity which it generates, particularly inward investment. (See `Universities and their Communities' Goddard J (CVCP)).
• b. More directly, an HEI represents a resource which is increasingly recognised and exploited by the local community and by local employers - both in terms of its physical and intellectual facilities and in terms of the skills of its academic and other staff. This is likely to increase in importance as the updating of skills, retraining and lifelong learning become central to local and regional economies.
  

17. This role will need to be developed further by extending the many existing collaboration and partnership arrangements between HE institutions, other education and training providers, local employers, industry and other local and regional bodies.

HE as a Tradable Activity

18. The HE sector is a significant invisible export, trading on its world-wide reputation, particularly in science and technology. This applies equally to teaching, where, with 116,000 overseas and EC students, the UK is the fourth most popular destination in the world, and to research where universities in 1993 generated £47 million in contracts from overseas. This should be recognised more explicitly as a purpose of HE. The opportunity cost of not doing so in an increasingly competitive global market could be significant. There will, however, be implications - for example, for decisions about standards, quality of provision, investment, and differentiation of mission.

19. This could become an increasingly important purpose of higher education, both because of the immediate financial benefits and because of the knock-on effects on the influence and prestige of the UK, and possibly on long term trade. This suggests that there are at least two parties directly interested. The HEIs themselves have an interest in the increased income which extending overseas engagement in UK higher education might bring, and the nation more generally, through the Government, has an interest in the longer term and wider effects.

Annex B

Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)

Summary of all Non-Formula Funding Special Initiatives

1. This annex describes all HEFCE non-formula funding special initiatives since the Council's formation. It also includes special initiatives inherited from the Polytechnics and Colleges Funding Council (PCFC) and the Universities Funding Council (UFC); special initiatives jointly funded by HEFCE, SHEFC, HEFCW and DENI; and Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) special initiatives.

2. For the purpose of this annex non-formula funding special initiatives are grouped in the following categories:

• Inherited
• Information Technology Related
• Teaching and Learning Related
• Special Initiatives aimed at Widening Provision
• Miscellaneous

3. Some special initiatives qualify for inclusion in more than one category.

Inherited Special Initiatives

Biotechnology Initiative

Duration: 1983-1995
Funding: £0.5 million per annum since 1990

4. The UGC's Biotechnology Initiative arose out of the recommendations of 1980 `Spinks Report' which suggested that there was a need to provide support for new posts in order to encourage the growth of Biotechnology in institutions. The initiative aimed to strengthen the discipline base of subjects contributing to biotechnology; to encourage interdisciplinary work; to promote links and collaboration with industry; and to support activities in both teaching and research, primarily at postgraduate level.

5. The initiative's 1989 review suggested that the initiative should continue for another five years and the second tranche of funding commenced in October 1990.

6. The 1989 review also concluded that the initiative had been successful: most institutions had met objectives; interest in the field of biotechnology had increased and sector knowledge broadened; and links between basic science and industry had been established and strengthened.

Higher Introductory Technology and Engineering Conversion Courses (HITECC) Programme

Duration: 1987-1996
Funding: £1.82 million per annum since 1990-91

7. The National Advisory Board (NAB) for Public Sector Higher Education proposed the development of a new type of course to provide an alternative route into engineering. HITECC began in 1987 and aimed to convert students without A level mathematics or physics into appropriate entrants for a range of engineering degree or higher diploma courses.

8. HEFCE continued the programme after the PCFC: since 1990-91 765 places have been supported in 31 institutions each year. A report on HITECC, produced in 1996, noted the success of the initiative.

New Academic Appointments Scheme (NAAS)

Duration: 5 years (1989-90 to 1993-94)
Funding: £55.4 million (UK institutions from 1989-90 to 1992-93); £6.4 million to English HEIs (1993-94)

9. NAAS was a five year initiative which commenced in 1989 under the auspices of the UFC. Responsibility for the final year of funding fell to the HEFCE, SHEFC and HEFCW. NAAS allowed institutions to appoint new, young academic staff in anticipation of future vacancies which arose chiefly through retirement. This helped to compensate for the imbalance in university staff age structures caused by the rapid post-Robbins expansion of the 1960s and the large number of early retirements without replacement in the 1980s.

10. The majority of NAAS appointments were in the natural sciences and technology subject areas. By 1993-94 over 900 appointments had been made in England.

Accelerated and Intensive Routes to Higher Education (AIRS)

Duration: 3 years (1992-93 to 1994-95)
Funding: Approximately £7 million. Funding rolled into the core of pilot institutions from 1995-96 onwards

11. The PCFC launched AIRS in 1992 to widen access to HE and increase participation among under-represented groups. Eleven AIRS courses were piloted in 10 HEIs. A typical AIRS course could be completed in two 45 week years as opposed to a conventional programme of three 30 week years.

12. An evaluation report provided detailed information on the performance rates of AIRS students; student and employer perceptions; employment destinations and the attitudes of professional bodies to AIRS.

Flexibility in Course Provision (FCP)

Duration: 3 years (1992-93 to 1994-95)
Funding: £3 million

13. The UFC launched FCP in 1992 to encourage flexible and innovative approaches to expansion in HE. 28 projects were funded. The projects included accelerated courses, use of IT in teaching and learning, access-related activity and flexible learning.

14. An evaluation report details the success of the programme.

Information Technology Related Special Initiatives

15. Many of the IT related initiatives have been supported through the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC). These are highlighted as such.

Management and Administrative Computing (MAC) Initiative
(JISC)

Duration: 1988-1995

16. Developed by the UFC, the MAC initiative aimed to encourage and enable institutions to obtain administrative computing systems capable of providing good quality management information. A MAC blueprint was based on the identification of the common needs of institutions. Migration strategies were devised for each institution to achieve the blueprint. Institutions with similar migration strategies were grouped into four families which acted as the main focus for technical development. All ex-UFC institutions were members of one of the four families.

New Technology Initiative (NTI)
(JISC)

Duration: 1993 - some projects are not due to complete until early 1997

17. The NTI was launched in 1993 and 62 projects are supported by it. NTI aims to exploit and make available new information technologies to higher education. Projects have been successful in advancing usable technologies which HEIs would not have been able to investigate individually.

18. All projects are regularly measured against defined performance indicators, enabling the JISC to ensure that relevant, high quality work continues to be delivered. A final report of the programme will be published towards the end of 1996.

Electronic Library Programme (eLib)
(JISC)

Duration: 1995-96 to 1997-98
Funding: £11.5 million

19. The electronic library programme is a three year initiative funding 38 projects (mostly consortia). It aims to use IT to improve the delivery of information through increased use of electronic library services, to allow academic libraries to cope better with growth, and to explore different models of intellectual property management. The projects cover electronic document delivery; electronic journals; multi-media and rapid publication; digitisation; 18th and 19th century journals and selected art and design subjects; on demand publishing; training and awareness; and access to network resources.

BT/JISC Research Collaboration

Duration: Annual (1994, 1995 and 1996 so far)
Funding: £0.2 million per annum (all funding from BT)

20. British Telecom/JISC research collaboration aims to create research projects to develop and assess applications to be operated on SuperJANET. This has included demonstrating the delivery of teaching resources over the network and producing a prototype system to demonstrate shared virtual reality. The programme has funded projects at five institutions: University of Exeter; Lancaster University; University of Nottingham; University of Glasgow and University of Essex.

Local Area Networks (LANS) and Metropolitan Area Networks (MANS)
(JISC)

Duration: 1996-97, 1997-98
Funding: £10 million and £8 million respectively

21. Investment in SuperJANET has provided HEIs with a very high speed network capable of transferring information of all kinds (data, text and video) across the country. In order to make good use of information received via SuperJANET institutions need a local area network (LAN) within a site. LANs facilitate the transfer of information within a particular site or institution. In allocating LAN funding, priority was given to establishing a base level of provision throughout the sector.

22. A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a network which links sites within an urban area or region. This permits not only the connection of the sites of the same institution, but also provides access to SuperJANET from sites on the MAN.

23. MANs are a cost effective way of providing SuperJANET connectivity in urban and regional areas. The development of MANs is a high priority for the Council and the JISC. In 1996-97 the initiative will concentrate on the expansion of existing MANs and the development of new MANs which are already well advanced.

JISC's Technology Applications Programme (JTAP)

Duration: 3 years (1996-97 to 1998-99)
Funding: £6.5 million

24. JTAP focuses on the application of technology to all parts of the sector. The programme aims to demonstrate systems which will enable students and researchers to exploit the most recent technical opportunities; to train and educate the sector to support the continuing development and application of innovative information systems; and to reduce the cost and duplication which would result if institutions developed these applications independently.

25. A total of 53 projects are funded under JTAP. All projects will be monitored and evaluated and a very strong emphasis has been placed on dissemination.

Teaching and Learning Technology Programme (TLTP)

Duration: Phase 1 (1992-93 to 1994-95)
Phase 2 (1993-94 to 1995-96)
Funding: Phase 1 £22.5 million plus £2 million for ongoing maintenance of Phase 1 projects.
Phase 2 £10.7 million

26. Phase 1 of TLTP was launched by the Universities Funding Council in 1992. The programme aimed to make teaching and learning more productive and efficient by harnessing modern technology. Phase 2 of TLTP was supported by HEFCE , SHEFC, HEFCW and DENI.

27. TLTP has introduced many innovative approaches to teaching and learning and continues to enable further development of more economic and more effective ways of delivering HE.

28. TLTP is centrally co-ordinated with a range of approaches to disseminating project outcomes, good practice and experience.

Computers in Teaching Initiative (CTI)

Duration: 1984 - onwards
Funding: £1.25 million per annum from 1994-95

29. CTI was established in 1984 by the Computer Board for universities and research councils and maintained by the UFC. CTI is now funded jointly by the UK funding councils and DENI and aims to encourage the use of computers in the teaching process. CTI supports subject based project centres. Each centre aims to gather and disseminate information and to advise individuals/departments.

30. CTI provides an important complementary service to TLTP by providing expertise and advice to subject based user departments thus increasing the output of TLTP projects.

Information Technology Training Initiative (ITTI)

Duration: 3 years (1991-94)
Funding: £3 million

31. HEFCE inherited the ITTI programme from UFC. It aimed to improve the availability of training materials for the use of IT in UK HEIs. 29 projects across the UK developed quality computer and paper based products in areas such as multimedia and hypertext courseware development tools and training; IT application skills training and professional IT skills training for various packages.

Teaching and Learning Related

Effective Teaching and Assessment Programme (ETAP)

Duration: 1 year (1993-94)
Funding: £0.7 million

32. ETAP, jointly funded by HEFCE, SHEFC and HEFCW, aimed to promote the development of training and consultancy in support of teaching, learning and assessment, and to make available the results of best practice to those responsible for course design and delivery. Five consortia bids were funded.

33. Outcomes from ETAP have included: the development of various materials as exemplars of best practice; development of inter-disciplinary and cross disciplinary co-operation; opportunities for networking.

Fund for the Development of Teaching and Learning (FDTL)

Duration: Phase 1 - 3 years (1996-97 to 1998-99)
Phase 2 - 3 years (1997-98 to 1999-2000)
Funding: Phase 1 - £6.3 million for years 1 and 2 of Phase 1
Phase 2 - £1.7 million for year 1 of Phase 2

34. FDTL was established to stimulate developments in teaching and learning and to encourage the dissemination of good teaching practice across the HE sector. Only institutions that have demonstrated high quality provision through HEFCE's quality assessment process were eligible to bid for FDTL funding.

35. A total of 44 projects were funded under Phase 1 of FDTL incorporating all 15 subjects (units of assessment) assessed under the teaching quality assessment process before April 1995. FDTL is a rolling programme of funding as successive subjects are assessed.

Special Initiatives to Widen Access to Higher Education

36. In addition to a number of initiatives outlined above (AIRS and FCP) HEFCE has supported several initiatives specifically aimed at widening access to HE.

1993-94 Special Initiative to Encourage Widening Participation for Students with Special Needs

Duration: 1 year (1993-94)
Funding: £3 million

37. This initiative encouraged HE institutions to support access to higher education for students with special needs; 38 projects were funded covering provision for students with a range of disabilities.

1994-95 Special Initiative to Encourage Widening Participation for Students with Special Needs

Duration: 1 year (1994-95)
Funding: £3 million

38. The purpose of this initiative was to build on the success of the 1993-94 initiative. However, in 1994-95 the Council placed more emphasis on institutions taking a longer term view; 49 projects were funded.

39. The Council commissioned an evaluation of the 1993-94 and 1994-95 initiatives. The evaluation report noted that the initiatives were successful and effective in improving and expanding provision for students with disabilities and were broadly welcomed by the sector.

1996-97 to 1997-98 Special Initiative to Encourage High Quality Provision for Students with Learning Difficulties and Disabilities

Duration: 3 years (1996-97 to 1998-99)
Funding: £6 million

40. This initiative will build on the success of the 1993-94 and 1994-95 initiatives in light of the HEFCE's new statutory responsibilities under the Disability Discrimination Act. A total of 39 proposals will be supported, a number of which are collaborative groupings.

Special Initiative to Encourage Widening Participation of Students from Ethnic Minorities in Teacher Training

Duration: 1 year (1993-94)
Funding: £0.5 million

41. This initiative addressed the serious shortfall in the number of ethnic minority students in teacher training. It was a one year pump-priming initiative after which the Council expected projects to become embedded into institutions.

Continuing Vocational Education (CVE) Development Funding

Duration: 4 years (1995-96 to 1998-99)
Funding: £15.1 million in 1995-96. Indicative allocations in subsequent years

42. The central objective of this initiative was to encourage CVE (defined by the Council as activity which contributes to the updating of employment-related skills and knowledge to meet the needs of employers and employees) to become an integral part of an institution's overall strategy. In particular, funding was aimed at meeting the lifetime learning needs of people at work; expanding the availability of flexible teaching, learning and accreditation for people at work and encouraging an active role for HEIs in wealth creation and in regional and local development.

Non-Award Bearing Continuing Education (NABCE)

Duration: 4 years (1995-96 to 1998-99)
Funding: £4.6 million in 1995-96. Indicative allocations in subsequent years

43. This programme funds a large number of projects aimed at widening access to HE for adult students from groups previously disadvantaged in higher education. The work includes liberal adult education, outreach, COMPACTS and a range of other access-related activity.

Miscellaneous Special Initiatives

Core Proposals and Core Proposals Second Initiative

Duration: Core Proposals: 2 years (1993-94 and 1994-95)
Core Proposals Second Initiative: 2 years (1994-95 and 1995-96)
Funding: Core Proposals: £3.5 million
Core Proposals Second Initiative: £5 million

44. Core Proposals allocated additional funded student places for the provision of sub-degree/two year diploma courses particularly with a vocational emphasis in science, engineering and technology. Provision in geographical areas where limited provision existed was also targeted. In all, 42 institutions were supported, with funding fully rolled into institutions' core funding from 1995-96.

45. The Core Proposals Second Initiative also encouraged the further development of sub-degree level courses. Priority was again given to proposals related to Science and Engineering and Technology. Up to a maximum of 50 additional first year places were allocated to any single proposal. Additional places were funded at a level not higher than the institution's 1994-95 baseline average unit of Council funding (AUCF). Funding and student numbers were rolled into institutions' core funding.

Libraries Review: Non-Formula Funding of Specialised Research Collections in the Humanities

Duration: 1 year (1994-95); recurrent from 1995-96
Funding: £7.9 million (1994-95) and £6.8 million for 1995-96

46. In 1994 the Joint Libraries Review Group recommended that bids should be invited for recurrent non-formula funding to support specialised research collections in the humanities. In 1994-95 funding was allocated on a non-recurring basis (due to a tight timetable) and focused on the areas of conservation, cataloguing of collections and preservation.

47. The focus for recurring funding in 1995-96 was similar to that in 1994-95. Recurring funding was allocated for between two and four years.

Higher Education Museums Galleries and Collections (HEMGCs)

Duration: Ongoing
Funding: £6.633 million in 1994-95 plus £0.254 million for Earth Science Collection Centres

48. The UFC policy of providing funds to a number of museums, galleries and collections on the basis that they were of 'undoubted national distinction' has been continued by the Council. HEFCE-funded HEMGCs must be freely accessible to all staff and students from HEFCE-funded institutions.

49. In 1995-96 the Council funded 22 HEMGCs in 13 institutions. On the recommendation of the HEMGCs Review Group, non-formula funding in respect of HEMGCs will not be reviewed again until at least 2000.

Academic Year Pilots

Duration: 3 years (1995-96 to 1997-98)
Funding: £3.8 million

50. Following the Flowers report on the organisation of the academic year the Council supported a pilot programme to test the feasibility of a third semester during the summer period. After invitation, two institutions were supported: La Sainte Union College of HE and the University of Luton.

51. The purpose of the pilots is to investigate further the feasibility of a summer programme and the costs, benefits and the academic and organisational implications of an extended academic year. Participating institutions have been asked to monitor the major aspects of their projects throughout the lifetime of the programme.

Minority Subjects

Duration: 1995-96 onwards
Funding: £3.9 million (1995-96)

52. The UGC allocated special factor funding of £1.5 million annually for minority subjects from 1987-88 to 1991-92. The UFC continued funding for minority subjects in 1991-92 which the HEFCE continued until a survey of minority subjects in 1994.

53. In 1995-96 HEFCE allocated £3.9 million to support subjects where it was judged that the national interest required the provision of specific funding. In 1995-96 minority subjects included Armenian, Egyptology, Numismatic Studies and Sign Language.

54. The Council will undertake an evaluation of the minority subjects programme in 1999.

Former Soviet and East European Studies (FSEES)

Duration: 3 years (1995-96 to 1997-98)
Funding: £2.5 million

55. The FSEES initiative grew out of a review of provision in the subject area. The review concluded that HEIs has not been able to respond to new and changing needs in light of the historic developments in and around the former Soviet Union. The review recommended that the Council earmark funding for the creation of additional posts, and associated support, in language, area and discipline studies.

56. Funding of £25,000 per annum was allocated to 33 new posts in December 1995. A monitoring and evaluation process has been established for the three year duration of the initiative.

Joint Research Equipment Initiative (JREI)

Duration: Commencing for 1996-97 for a maximum of three years
Funding: (at present) £11.5 million

57. JREI has been established jointly by HEFCE, SHEFC, DENI and OST to provide additional funding for high-quality research in the Technology Foresight Programme science and technology priority areas. It has also been designed to support the research infrastructure more generally in HEIs and to encourage and promote partnerships between HEIs and the external sponsors of research, such as industry, charities, trusts and agencies. The initiative is being run as two competitions: Competition A is funded by four Research Councils for equipment costing less than £250,000; and Competition B is funded by HEFCE, SHEFC and DENI for equipment costing more than £250,000.

58. This initiative forms part of the HEFCE's implementation of the Technology Foresight Programme and meets concerns about the infrastructure of research. It also gives the Funding Councils and the Research Councils the opportunity to work together.

59. Bids for both competitions are currently being peer reviewed by the Research Councils.