Dusa Marjetic, Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Republic of Slovenia "Efficient public spending in the case of financing of higher education in Slovenia"

REPUBLIKA SLOVENIJAMINISTRSTVO ZA VISOKO ŠOLSTVO, ZNANOST IN TEHNOLOGIJO

Beyond the Crisis: Funding ResearchUniversities in Economic Recession

Efficient Public Spending in the Case of Financing of Higher Education in Slovenia

Duša MarjetičMHEST, Directorate for Higher Education

Zagreb, 3. 12. 2010


2

HEIs missionTo respond to the needs of society by:• Creating and maintaining an advanced base of

knowledge• Encourage research and inovation• Transfere knowledge to students preparing them for

a working career and active citizenship in democratic society and encouraging their personal growth

• “Service to society”


3

health insurance, subsidised nutrition, subsidised rent in student dormitories, travel subsidies, scholarships

Financing of HE in Slovenia

HEIs Student support

MoHEST

Slovenian Research Agency

MoLFSA

Teaching Research

Slovenian Human Resource

Development and Scholarship Fund

Other(SUOSWC…)

Other


4

Public funding HE• Students are considered to be financially dependent on their

parents.

• Dual track system. No tuition fee for full-time students.

• Full-time students and part-time students, who are not employed or registered as unemployed also benefit from health insurance, subsidised nutrition, subsidised rent in student dormitories and travel subsidies.

• Indirectly additional benefits are guaranteed for parents and students through tax benefits and tax relief on student’ work.

• Scholarships: materially deprived students (54%), talented and gifted students (30%), company scholarships (12%).


55

GDP % for tertiary education (2007)


66

% od public expenditure for TE student aid (2007)


77

Public expenditure for TEIs in EUR PPS per student(2007)


8

Brief history of lump-sum funding

in Slovenia


9

Why change of HE funding?

Weaknesses of the previous system (up to 2003):• The way funds were distributed to HEIs.• Funds were not (always) spent rationally.• Governmental controls were focused on the way

money was spent and not on the realization of goals and quality assurance in HE.

• Slow responsiveness of HEIs to changes (example: demographic, HRM policy, labor market needs, etc.).


10

Desirable qualities of the new funding model were:

• Flexibility: it should recognise differences between HEIs and allow their flexibility to maximise autonomy (academic and financial) so that they can achieve their mission.

• Choice: HEIs should not be limited in offering a selection of study programmes.

• Quality: funding should reward and promote excellence of results in education.

• Simplicity/efficiency: it should be simple for governing by the state and comprehensible for HEIs and students. It should assure the best results for invested funds.

• Predictability: it should enable planning with a certain level of predictability both, for the state and HEIs.

Desired qualities


11

LS = OLS + NLS : (Annual Funds = Fixed AF + Normative AF)

LS (AF)

- OLS (FAF)

= NLS (NAF)

LIV = (LS – Σ OLS) / Σ ((Š + D * Ud ) * f(s))

The annual initial value (LIV) represents the standard annual funds per student in the first study group and is calculated as the quotient of the difference of annual budget funds (LS) and the basic annual funds of all HEIs ( OLS) and the total number of students (Š) and the number of graduates (D) multiplied by the weighting (Ud) and the factor f(s) of the study group to which the HEIs.

Formula


12

Public funding of HEIs for teaching (in mio EUR)


13

• The introduction of a lump sum will solve the budget problems.

• Lump sum funding leads to rationalization and better use of resources at HEIs level by making them more accountable for their actions and at the same time give them more flexibility on how they manage and distribute the money.

Inconvenient truth

REPUBLIKA SLOVENIJAMINISTRSTVO ZA PRIMER

14

• Accreditation

• National register of HEIs

• Evaluation

• Matura (ticket to HE)

• Public tender for enrolment places (for public institutions with Government's consent)

• National enrolment office (for all publicly financed undergraduate studies)

• Annual work programme (unified form set by the ministry)

• Annual report• Administrative board• Concessions are given to

private HEIs based on public tender by the Government (for a fix period

of time with restrictions) • Involvement of HEIs in

EU financed projects

Mechanisms promoting good governance

REPUBLIKA SLOVENIJAMINISTRSTVO ZA PRIMER

15

• Obligatory annual internal audit for public institutions

• Budget Supervision Office of the Ministry of Finance– Risk management – documented risk assessment

• Court of auditors of the Republic of Slovenia (independent by the Constitution and law)

• Labour Inspectorate of the Republic of Slovenia

• Anti-corruption commission

• Examples of good practice

Mechanisms promoting good governance


16

Strengths:• Autonomy of universities• Financial autonomy of universities• HRM (policies) of universities

Weaknesses:• Decentralised universities

• Inefficiency in spending of (public) funds• Low effectiveness of HE: drop out, long duration

of study, ?unemployment?

Strengths/weaknesses


17

Challenges

• Limited resources in national budget– Efficiency in spending of resources

• Equity– “Free” higher education

– Full time / part time studies

• Accountability (vs. autonomy) – Professional management at universities

– Transparent management

– Responsiveness and reporting to society

• Quality


18

• Increase of total funds available to HE and scientific and research work.

• By means of multi-annual financing mechanisms that will reward successful HEIs to create a system of financing with a basic and a developmental pillar.

• Ensure stability of financing of scientific and research activities of universities through the introduction of comprehensive financing of research (i.e. research “lump-sum”).

Master plan for HE 2020

Documents

Dusa Marjetic, Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Republic of Slovenia "Efficient public spending in the case of financing of higher education in Slovenia"