02 March 2007
English universities are to receive a good funding settlement to help them get to grips with the new fee regime, higher education bosses said this week.
The Higher Education Funding Council for England is to make available £7.1bn for 2007/08 — an overall cash increase of 6.4% over the previous year.
The settlement, announced on March 1, provides for an additional 50,000 full-time equivalent student places for the next academic year — a growth rate of 5%. It also includes a 2.75% increase in teaching grant, a 2.7% boost in funding to help universities recruit and retain students from lower socioeconomic groups and a 5.4% rise in research funding.
HEFCE chief executive David Eastwood said almost all institutions would receive a minimum 2% uplift in their grant. He said: 'This is a good settlement for higher education.'
He also pointed to a revival in popularity of physics, chemistry, chemical engineering and materials engineering. 'This is particularly encouraging in view of the additional £25m over each of the next three years that we are providing to support these very high-cost subjects,' he said.
PFmar2007
