Invitation 99/52Project capital allocations 1999-2000 to 2001-02:Application for funding
Executive summaryPurpose 1. This document describes the funding arrangements for earmarked capital funding for the period 1999-2002. Key points 2. We will provide £90 million to improve the capital and IT infrastructure in support of teaching and learning. 3. We will provide £150 million for research capital projects. 4. Institutions' allocations have been determined formulaically. 5. To obtain the funding, institutions will need to identify appropriate projects in the context of their own strategies which deliver the quantifiable outcomes that institutions have made their priority. Action required 6. Project definition forms must be sent to the Council by 29 October 1999. Introduction7. On 8 December 1998 the DfEE announced the following earmarked capital funding as part of the total funding announcement.
8. Within these totals we intend to distribute £90 million for learning and teaching infrastructure projects, and £150 million for research capital projects. All higher education institutions (HEIs) that meet the criteria set out in this document will receive a capital allocation. 9. The formulae we have used to determine the size of these capital allocations for each HEI have been discussed with sector representative bodies. Their comments have been taken into account in finalising the formulae and the conditions on which funding will be provided. Bases for determining allocationsCapital and IT infrastructure for teaching and learning 10. The £90 million to improve the capital and IT infrastructure, and in particular learning and teaching in higher education, will support the Teaching Quality Enhancement Fund (TQEF). We will introduce it in 1999-2000. Details of this and the other funding strands of the TQEF were announced in July 1999 (HEFCE 99/48). 11. We will allocate the capital and IT infrastructure funds where these are clearly in the context of institutions' strategies and their outcomes. 12. We do not wish to prescribe the use of the capital and IT infrastructure funds. However, although institutions will have their own priorities for these funds, there are a number of key priorities for expenditure, which are set in paragraph 22 below. These priorities were in part identified in the survey of teaching equipment jointly sponsored by the English and Welsh funding councils and the CVCP1. 13. The capital funds available to each institution have been determined formulaically. We have used the outputs of the existing teaching funding method to determine allocations, rather than devising a new formula. 14. We have used standard funding as the base, rather than simply calculating allocations pro-rata to actual teaching grant. The allocations for each HEI are at Annex A. 15. We have not included further education colleges (FECs) within this formulaic allocation of capital funds. However, we have allocated £0.5 million per year to support the capital needs of HE learning and teaching in FECs. This will form part of a wider teaching development fund to improve and enhance HE provision in FECs. We will consider the mechanisms for this in the autumn. Research capital 16. The Council's role under the dual support system for research funding is to provide the infrastructure to support research activity in HEIs, including projects funded by the Research Councils. Given this role, we have distributed funding on the basis of all subject areas. 17. The research capital allocations have been determined pro rata, using a 50:50 ratio, to total research income and QR income with a £20,000 threshold. This recognises all research activity and supports the development of the research infrastructure. The allocations for each HEI are at Annex B. Outcomes and evaluation 18. The funding provided carries an obligation to evaluate the impact of the additional capital funding. To do so, for both capital streams, we will ask institutions to report performance against previously identified outcome measures. Institutions should report these, with statements of actual expenditure, through their annual operating statements. They may wish to make use of the performance measures being developed by the Performance Indicators Steering Group, but it is for institutions to identify the outcome measures which will demonstrate an effective use of public funds. 19. We would expect to evaluate the overall effectiveness of the schemes after two years. However, we will provide progress reports based on institutional operating statements every year. Application processApplications 20. Although the allocations have been determined formulaically, funding will only be provided against specific projects that meet the criteria set out in paragraphs 22 and 25 below. Institutions should submit separate applications for each capital and IT infrastructure project for teaching and learning, and each capital project for research. 21. Institutions should submit six copies of each application, using the project definition form at Annex C, and up to four A4 sheets of supporting information, including locations and floor plans where appropriate. Any additional information or material provided will be disregarded. A project definition form should be completed for each project. This document, including the project definition form, can be downloaded from the HEFCE web site (http://www.hefce.ac.uk) under 'Publications'. Capital and IT infrastructure for teaching and learning 22. Institutions will be required to demonstrate that for each project: a. There are clear links to the institution's strategies. b. The money is spent on a small number of identifiable projects with clear, additional and measurable learning and teaching related outcomes. Ideally these should be one or two major projects which will have a strategic impact and which cannot be realised within recurrent allocations. c. The proposals have regard to the following priorities: i. Improving and upgrading teaching laboratories and laboratory equipment. ii. Refurbishment and improvement of teaching facilities (including teaching studios). iii. General teaching support (including audio-visual and engineering equipment). iv. Computing equipment (including networking costs for online learning). d. The institution has followed Council guidance on investment appraisal and procurement, and that the selected project(s) represent value for money. 23. We will consider new-build where this offers better value for money than other options. 24. An advisory panel drawn from the HEFCE Board and the sector's representative bodies (CVCP and SCOP) will review the projects. Visits may be made by panel members or by HEFCE officers as part of the evaluation process. Research capital 25. Institutions will be required to demonstrate for each project that: a. There are clear links to the institution's future research strategies. b. The money is spent on a small number of identifiable projects with clear, additional and measurable research outcomes. Ideally these should be one or two major projects which will have a strategic impact and which cannot be realised within recurrent allocations. c. The proposals have regard to: i. Improving and upgrading research laboratories and laboratory equipment. ii. Refurbishment and improvement of research facilities (including clean rooms, and so on). iii. General research infrastructure support (including audio-visual and engineering equipment). iv. Computing equipment (including networking costs to support data analysis and collaborative research activities). d. The proposals have clear and measurable research-related outcomes. e. The proposals support research that is currently high quality or where it is expected to become so. f. The institution has followed Council guidance on investment appraisal and procurement, and that the selected project(s) represent value for money 26. We will consider new-build where this offers better value for money than other options. 27. An advisory panel drawn from the HEFCE Board and the sector's representative bodies (CVCP and SCOP) will review the projects. This may look to the Research Councils for advice. Visits may be made by panel members or by HEFCE officers as part of the evaluation process. Payment 28. Annexes A and B give the total formula-based capital funding, covering all years, for each institution. Once we have accepted the projects to be supported, we will confirm with institutions a profile of expenditure, reflecting the rate at which institutions expect to use the allocations. We recognise that there is an immediate need for this funding and that institutional requirements may not coincide with the profile of capital funding set out in the DfEE letter of 8 December 1998. 29. We will require institutions to inform us if the projected pattern of expenditure or the planned completion date change significantly. In such circumstances we will review the reasons for the changes and agree a revised payment profile. 30. As with other capital funding schemes, all expenditure would be subject to audit. We will retain 10 per cent of each capital allocation in excess of £100,000, to be released once we have received a satisfactory audit certificate for the project. This process maintains the necessary audit trails and accountability for public expenditure but minimises the costs of processing claims. Where an audit certificate is not required, institutions will still need to maintain proper records which can be audited by our own staff. Timetable31. The deadline for applications is 29 October 1999. Applications will be reviewed by the panels at a series of meetings between December 1999 and February 2000. Institutions will be informed of the outcomes after these meetings. 32. Please send six copies of each application, to arrive by midday on 29 October 1999, to: Sam Smith Annex ATeaching and learning infrastructure : allocations for 1999-2002
Annex BResearch projects: allocations for 1999-2002
Annex CProject definition formThis is available in Word 7 as part of the full document |
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