March 2003/10
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| To: | Heads of HEFCE-funded institutions Heads of universities in Northern Ireland |
| Of interest to those responsible for: | Finance, planning |
| Reference: | 2003/10 |
| Publication date: | March 2003 |
| Enquiries to: | HEFCE higher education advisers |
Executive summary (read on-line)
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Report
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Annex A - Descriptions of columns in Tables 1 and 2
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Table 1 - Recurrent resources for academic year 2003-04
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Table 2 - Comparison with 2002-03 academic year recurrent resources
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Table 3 - Special funding and earmarked capital grants for 2003-04
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Extra tables
The HEFCE press release on 'Recurrent grants for 2003-04' contains a summary table and regional tables not included in the main report.
Executive summary
Purpose
1. This document summarises our provisional allocations of recurrent funding to institutions for the academic year 2003-04.
2. The HEFCE Board agreed the allocations on 26 February 2003. We wrote to all institutions individually on 4 March 2003.
Key points
General
3. All years relate to academic years - that is, 1 August to 31 July.
4. We are distributing £5,485 million in 2003-04, an increase of 7.6 per cent compared with 2002-03. Funding for teaching has increased by 3.8 per cent (1.6 per cent in real terms), allowing us to provide an additional 19,700 full-time equivalent (FTE) places for 2003-04. Funding for research has increased by 10.9 per cent. We are also providing an additional £62 million for earmarked capital funding, and £52 million extra for rewarding and developing staff in higher education, compared with the allocations for 2002-03. The overall unit of resource for teaching (including assumed fee income) has increased by 2.4 per cent compared with 2002-03. The increased funding for rewarding and developing staff, which we expect to consolidate into teaching grant in 2004-05, provides a further 1 per cent increase in the unit of resource.
5. The total includes £3,399 million for teaching, £1,042 million for research, £451 million for special funding, £364 million for earmarked capital funding, £178 million for rewarding and developing staff, and £47 million to compensate higher education institutions for increases in employers' contributions to the Teachers' Pension Scheme.
Teaching
6. The total of £3,399 million for teaching for 2003-04 includes the following:
- £265 million to support widening access and improving retention for students from under-represented groups or who are at greatest risk of not completing their studies.
- £22 million for additional funded students, allocated in response to the new bids invited in HEFCE 2002/39, 'Additional student places and funds 2003-04'.
- £23 million for additional funded students in 2003-04, allocated in response to earlier bidding exercises.
- £19 million for increases in medical student numbers.
Research
7. A total of £1,042 million is allocated for research. This is an increase of 10.9 per cent compared with 2002-03. It has enabled us to restore the average unit of resource to 2001-02 levels in real terms for departments rated 5 (as well as those rated 5*) in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). In addition, we are providing supplementary funding of £20 million to those departments that achieved 5* ratings in both the 1996 and 2001 RAEs.
8. For departments rated 4, there is a further reduction in the average unit of resource. We are no longer funding departments rated 3a or 3b through our main quality-related research funding (QR). However, we will provide funding for some such departments through a new capability fund aimed at encouraging research in seven emerging subject areas.
Moderation of teaching and research
9. We have continued our policy of phasing in changes by moderating the allocations. Institutions will not receive a reduction in resource (teaching and research grant, plus regulated fee income) in real terms, compared with the equivalent figure for 2002-03.
Special funding and earmarked capital
10. Most of our grants for teaching and research are allocated by formula. In addition, we distribute special funding for specific purposes. In 2003-04, this funding totals £451 million. We will also allocate £364 million for earmarked capital grants, and £178 million for rewarding and developing staff in higher education.
Student numbers
11. We have provided for an additional 19,700 FTE students for 2003-04. Of these, 6,000 have been allocated through the most recent bidding exercise announced in HEFCE 2002/39.
Action required
12. No action is required in response to this document.