The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has today (Thursday) announced the allocation of its £7.3bn budget for 2010-11, including the allocation to universities and colleges of £6.5bn in funding for teaching, research and innovation.
Professor Steve Smith, President of Universities UK, said: “This was always going to be a difficult year for individual institutions since it represents the implementation of previously announced cuts of £449m against planned expenditure for 2010-11. In addition, the Government has asked HEFCE to implement further concentration of research funding and to begin exploring ways of further targeting funding for particular subjects.
“While we appreciate HEFCE’s efforts to protect core university funding, around half of higher education institutions have seen a cash decrease in comparison with 2009-10, and this can never be considered good news for the sector. But UUK recognises the pressures imposed by the current economic climate, and notes that in the majority of cases these decreases have been 1% or less. We welcome HEFCE’s use of moderation funding to ensure that institutions do not see reductions of more than 0.8% in cash terms.
“The funding for teaching, research and innovation for 20100-11 represents a small cash increase of 0.4% in comparison with the funds received in 2009-10. The maintenance of funding for research, core funding for teaching, and widening participation are encouraging for the sector overall, given the current economic climate.
“Although funding for additional places has been provided in 2010-11, we note that this won’t be sufficient growth in the sector in line with recent growth in demand. As we approach the Budget, we want the Government to commit to providing 10,000 fully-funded additional student places in 2010-11 – in part to make up for the approximately 6,000 fewer places for new entrants this year.
“We cannot be complacent about future challenges. The overall stability in this funding settlement has come at a necessary price for longer-term future investment, with significant reductions in the availability of capital funding.
“UUK recognises that, whilst a rebalancing of funds can secure relative stability in the short-term, the sector needs to be making strategic choices to develop a sustainable funding structure for the future.”
Notes
- Full details of the HEFCE grant allocations for universities and colleges in England in 2010-11 are available at: www.hefce.ac.uk