The Hefce to success

Smirks all round at the Higher Education Funding Council for England, which recently commissioned a Mori poll to evaluate its own performance. This found that "Hefce is commonly described as approachable, respected, efficient and in touch with the institutions it funds".

Mori asked the 370 members of staff in universities and colleges to identify the key attributes of an "ideal" funding council, and most cited areas in which Hefce is thought to be performing well.

The report continues: "Hefce senior staff are highly regarded, with Sir Brian Fender praised for being proactive, responsible, helpful and accessible." And modest too - funding chiefs have chosen not to circulate the findings, which appear only in electronic form on the Hefce website.