Professor David Eastwood

Review of the year and the future direction of higher education

Chief ExecutiveHigher Education Funding Council for England

The funding environment

Funding and Government priorities

Comprehensive Spending Review 2007

What we did get: A relatively good settlement

• Unit of funding maintained in real terms to 2010-11

• Fully funded growth

• Real increase in QR

• Capital funding maintained in cash terms and permanent

• 60,000 Additional Student Numbers

• Some reprioritisation (eg ELQs).

Main components of HEFCE recurrent grant for 2008-09

£ 7,476 millions

1,460

120

25

902

337

4,632

Teaching & wideningparticipation

Research

Higher EducationInnovation Fund

Very high cost andvulnerable science

Capital funding

Special funding

Government priorities

Government’s policy priorities over CSR period

• Continue to support excellent research and encourage innovation

• Contribution by HE to reducing greenhouse emissions - Revolving Green Fund

• Measuring institutional success within a diverse HE system

• Importance of STEM subjects across all areas of HEFCE activity and funding

• New University Challenge.

Key sector developments

• Strategically Important and Vulnerable Subjects

• New University Challenge

• 10 -15 year Framework

• Research Excellence Framework

• Employer Engagement

• National Student Survey.

Changing times and changing priorities – the new financial realities

Secretary of State's statement on student finances -1

• There is still commitment by the Government to growth, the unit of funding and to ring-fenced research funding

• Fully funded growth - 10,000 FTEs for 2009-10, instead of 15,000 FTEs. We have already allocated - or have ready to approve - sufficient proposals to meet this number

• Co-funded growth is not affected and we have sufficient bids already to meet our targets to 2010-11.

Secretary of State's statement on student finances - 2

• We are looking at contingency plans. May include looking at how we operate the funding method for teaching

• We are asking institutions to review their planned recruitment for 2009-10 and 2010-11 to avoid any increase in full time undergraduate and PGCE entrants above the level of actual admissions in 2008-09

• We expect further clarification on student numbers and funding for 2010-11 in the next grant letter.

A changing world

• RAE 2008

• Denham review: 10 -15 year Framework

• Pay and pensions

• Student choice and the student voice

• Changing demography.

The recession – impact and responses

• The impact on higher education of the global economic crisis

• Using the resources and knowledge base of HE to manage the effects of the recession and support the recovery of the economy post recession

• Importance of sustaining public investment in HE while continuing to push forward on other streams of investment.

Shaping the future

• Spending review (?2009/?2010)

• Fees review (?2009 -10)

• Research Excellence Framework

• Change of Government?

Fees review 2009

In 2004 the Secretary of State for Education and Skills announced:

• An independent review, working with the Office For Fair Access, to report to the House, on all aspects of the new arrangements based on the first three years’ operation of the policy.

• This would include:

– The impact of the new arrangements on higher education institutions

– The impact of the new arrangements on students and prospective students

– Future policy.

System changes

• Institutional differentiation

• Growth in PGT?

• Growth in PGR?

• Research funding relativities (QR versus RC income)

• Student expectations.

Postgraduate students registered at English institutions

Meeting the challenges

Institutional responses

• Positioning

• Leadership and good governance

• Investment

• Cost control

• Scale v specialisation

• Understanding the changing politics of higher education.

System responses

• Future of block grant

• Future of dual support

• The challenge of institutional autonomy

• The prospect for institutional realignments

• The changing political economy of higher education.

Reviewing and re-engineering institutional business models

• Why – potential volatility of the various funding streams for HE

• How – Building the capacity of your institution to flex the provision of, and funding for, education, research and knowledge transfer

• Overarching objective – quality and distinctiveness.

HEFCE strategic planning

• Developing a 5 year plan in the context of a 15 year framework

• Ensuring that we take account of the products of the Denham Review

• Ensuring that we take account of the views of the HE sector.

And finally…

Three things endure forever…

• Faith

• Hope

• and Charity

What Saint Paul actually meant

• Faith in what HE is for

• Hope that together we build a better future

• Charity – especially when supported by the new

matched giving scheme.

And the greatest of these

Is hope…