Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) announces grant allocations

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has announced grant funding figures for 2011/12.

The OU’s core teaching grant for 2011/12 is £104.6 million. This is £4.7m less than 2010/11 due to a sector-wide 4.28% reduction in teaching funding.

The Widening Participation and Teaching Enhancement and Student Success grants for 2011/12 in England total £35.5m – £0.9m less than 2010/11, as some money is being held back pending finalisation of underlying data.

In addition, there has been a change in the proportion of students generating the widening access grant.

Other allocations and grants total £34m. The changes are:

a. The part-time undergraduate allocation (including the ELQ element) has increased by £0.5m from 2010/11,

b. As expected, the foundation degree allocation will finish in 2010/11, a reduction of £0.3m in grant.

c. A small (£0.1m) reduction in the allocation for accelerated and intensive provision.

d. A reduction of ELQ grants (excluding the part-time allocation) of £0.3m due to the 4.28% reduction in teaching-related grants and the expected changes in transitional funding.

e. A reduction of £1m in the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) due to changes in the method of allocation.

HEFCE has said that the recurrent grant letter for 2011/12 is provisional. The 2010/11 grant was reduced by two separate efficiency savings since the provisional announcement in March 2010: a £2.1m reduction between the March 2010 and July 2010 grant announcements plus a further £4.5m reduction on 14 March 2011.

Funding for research has decreased by £0.4m compared with 2010/11.

The Scottish Funding Council announced indicative funding allocations for 2011/12 on 21 December 2010. The core teaching grant for 2011/12 is £2.3m lower than that for 2010/11. The widening access retention premium has increased by £0.4m

Higher Education Funding Council for Wales 2011/12 funding will be announced on 30 March 2011. The 2010/11 grant is being subjected to a 4% in-year efficiency saving cut, a reduction of £0.4m.

Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) allocated student numbers for 2011/12 have been reduced from 253 students to 200 students but the funding rate per student is yet to be announced.