Funding to get no increase

There will be no real-terms increase in the unit of funding for teaching and core research next year, the latest funding council figures confirm.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England has confirmed that the unit of funding will be maintained in real terms in the academic year 2001-02. The total grant for teaching will be set at £3,146 million, while total core research funding will be set at £888 million.

However, overall there will be an increase in the unit of university funding, which broadly means cash per student.

But this includes £80 million earmarked by government for staff pay in 2001-02 and capital funding.

The government has said that universities can expect a real terms increase in the unit of funding for teaching next year. This is true if the additional money for pay and capital is taken into account. But even if these sums are excluded, universities will not face another efficiency gain.

Hefce has not calculated the precise amount of the overall increase in the unit of funding, except to say that there is a cash increase of 8.5 per cent. This takes the total amount of recurrent and capital funding distributed by Hefce next year to £4,741 million.

There has been a reduction in real terms in the amount of special funding, formerly known as non-formula funding, compared with last year. Special funding, a mixed parcel of money covering things such as special needs provision and other infrastructural costs, plus earmarked capital funding will total £617 million in 2001-02.