Missing UWE already

Managers at the University of the West of England have been consistently ambivalent about the pleasure or otherwise of hosting the Higher Education Funding Council for England on their campus, insisting that they face neither additional scrutiny nor special favours from the bean counters. But the diplomatic niceties look set to end as UWE seeks to develop its Bristol complex. Although Hefce still has 16 years left on its lease of the UWE building, planning documents seen by The THES detailing an impressive £150 million of developments clearly mark Hefce's offices as "conversion to new directorate block".