HEFCE funding announcement

Commenting on HEFCE’s decision on funding for HE in England, Dr Wendy Piatt, Director General of the Russell Group, said:

“HEFCE’s new funding for taught postgraduates is a welcome recognition of the lack of funding for postgraduate education. We want the brightest graduates to be able to realise their full potential while maintaining and enhancing the country’s strengths in research and innovation. But we would like to see the Government address growing concerns about financial support for postgraduate students. [1]

“The 2012-13 teaching grant will be more than 25 per cent lower than in 2011-12 - which shows just how crucial tuition fee income will be in replacing the lost teaching grant. We remain concerned that the funding supplement of less than £1,500 for science, engineering and technology undergraduates is insufficient to meet the full costs of the first-rate teaching we provide to those students. Today’s announcement of a cut in the funding for those studying medicine and dentistry is also worrying. Any further teaching cuts, beyond those confirmed in this letter, would seriously threaten our ability to maintain world-class learning environments.

“HEFCE is right to recognise the importance of high-quality research environments. Research-intensive universities are the engines of future UK growth. The critical mass of talent, resources and infrastructure in our universities is generating the new ideas, knowledge and discoveries that will solve society’s most complex problems.”

Note to editors

1. The Russell Group provided an overview of private finance options in its second submission to the Browne Review and we have suggested that the Government consider the applicability of these, and any other private finance options, for providing support to postgraduate students.