The theory

The state of education in any country is intimately linked to that country’s history and to the national perception of how useful an education is for making a living. In the UK this picture is complicated as the education system is devolved: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own governance and funding systems. In all four sectors, however, over 80% of the funding for teaching and research comes from the public purse. In England, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) funds 130 Universities and 124 Further Education Colleges (with a 2010–11 budget of £6.5 billion provided by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills). The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) supports 16 Universities and four Higher Education Institutions (collectively known as the university sector) plus 43 Colleges, with a budget of more than £1.7 billion per annum. In Wales, 11 Universities and a number of Further Education Colleges are funded by the Higher Education Founding Council for Wales (Cyngor Cyllido Addysg Uwch Cymru) to the tune of more than £440 million. Seven Irish universities, 14 Institutes of Technology, 9 Colleges of Education, and a few other Higher-education Institutions are funded by the Department for Employment and Learning with a current annual budget of around £500 million.

The amount of public funding available for higher education varies (sometimes drastically) depending on the economic climate and on government policy. Despite this volatility, universities are expected to maintain both their constituencies and the consistency of their research, teaching and learning. Some of the differential between the sum required to run an institution and the funding received from government funding agencies (either through direct grants or research grants) thus has to be met by grants from industry and charities; by endowments and by income from student fees. According to data collected by the Higher Education Statistics Agency there were over 180 000 academic and 205 000 non-academic staff employed in the UK HE sector in 2009–10, and over 2.4 million students were registered.