Funding in English Universities and its relationship to the Research Excellence Framework

The purpose of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) is to judge the quality of research in the UK and on that basis to apportion to universities, in a transparent manner, differential shares in the UK's £1.6 billion pot of research funding. However, the funding process is anything but transparent! While the REF process was known years in advance and remained constant throughout the assessment exercise, the mechanisms for the subsequent award of quality‐related research (QR) funding in England were opaque and ‘adjustable’. The financial outcomes were put in the public domain following publication of the REF outcomes, but the calculations still remain a ‘black box’ even for experienced university administrators. The funding factors were not revealed in advance and dramatic changes were made to the formula once the REF results were known. This paper explores the intricacies involved in university QR funding and looks at the correlations between it and various REF outcomes. It discusses the tactical implications for academics and university administrators, and whether simpler alternatives that are just as effective can be developed in time for the next iteration.     

History and Research Assessment Exercises

While it is recognised that Research Assessment Exercises stimulate activity and that successive history panels have sensitively developed appropriate procedures, nonetheless there is much unease among university historians about the impact of RAEs on their subject. This paper argues that such concern reflects characteristics of the discipline that make selective funding of university departments of history especially awkward. Historians study as individuals and as specialists, not in departmental teams. Resources-especially time free from teaching and administrative burdens-have not been equally distributed between university departments, and in consequence RAEs in history are likely simply to confirm the wisdom of past funding decisions. The identification of 'international excellent' historians is particularly problematic. And distortions arising from the tendency of university managements to treat RAEs as a game rewarding the tactically astute exert a damaging influence: good research will not be achieved by bullying historians to produce a monograph for every RAE.     

Higher Education and Equity in Portugal

The main topic of this article is to consider the role of the State in providing higher education in Portugal, paying attention to the fact that the privatisation of higher education has been in place since the eighties (Amaral 1999) and also that it is difficult for students and their families to find the monetary resources needed for attendance at university (Cabrito 1999). The discussion focuses on the funding of higher education in a quasi-market situation (Le Grand et al. 1993), as Portugal hasn't escaped the universal trend towards privatisation of education (Whitty et al. 1998). In the last decade, the relationship between State, universities and students has been changing rapidly (Acherman et al. 1989; Barr et al. 1993; Williams 1990; Henkel et al. 1999), and some arguments are presented that equity in access to higher education must be guaranteed (Mora 1997; UNESCO 1998; Williams 1992). In this connection, the need is argued for free attendance on higher education and State subsidies to students to cover the costs of education. Firstly, the economic and social condition of university students is presented. Using data from two periods, one academic year from the 60s and one from the 90s, the increase in the degree of equity that the university system had known in recent decades can be verified. According to the analysis, the Portuguese population in general is better represented in the university student body nowadays, than in the 60s. Therefore, it is possible to discuss the maintenance of a low degree of equity in the Portuguese university system. For this, the economic and social condition of university students is compared with – that of the Portuguese population in the 90s. Secondly, the expectations of the students of higher education are presented, in order to understand the value attached by them to a university degree, which explains the social demand for education. Finally, the costs of higher education, both private and public, are evaluated. From this evaluation, it is possible to conclude that the principal source of funding of higher education costs is the student and his/her family and to discuss the need for a more interventionist State in higher education financing. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

西班牙高等教育私有化分析

在过去的30年中，西班牙的高等教育经历了许多变化。在1983年，由于人们对私立大学的合法性的认可开始了高等教育的竞争状态。1998年以来，由于学生人数的减少以及人们对高等教育需求的下降，进一步推进了高等教育的改革。2001年，西班牙政府颁布了一项新制度以推动公立大学的市场化行为和私有化运行。尽管目前来评价这些变化的作用可能为时尚早，因为大学公共资金拨付制度仍保留不变，而这是今后需要调整的关键问题，这样才能为高等教育提供真正的竞争条件。虽然市场已经进入到西班牙高等教育领域中，但是公立大学源源不尽的公共资金将是阻止一个真正公平竞争的市场形成的一股巨大的力量。     

日本国立大学财政制度与科学创新能力

经过一个多世纪的发展,日本国立大学形成了高层次科学创新能力。日本获得诺贝尔奖的15位科学家中有10位的研发工作是在国立大学完成。科研经费制度是制约大学科学创新能力形成极为重要的因素。研究日本国立大学财政制度的历史演化过程发现,财政制度的相对自治性、均等性、稳定性及重点性等价值取向是促进国立大学高层次科学创新能力形成的重要原因。     

Higher education and equity in Portugal

Abstract

The main topic of this article is to consider the role of the State in providing higher education in Portugal, paying attention to the fact that the privatisation of higher education has been in place since the eighties (Amaral 1999) and also that it is difficult for students and their families to find the monetary resources needed for attendance at university (Cabrito 1999). The discussion focuses on the funding of higher education in a quasi‐market situation (Le Grand et al. 1993), as Portugal hasn't escaped the universal trend towards privatisation of education (Whitty et al. 1998). In the last decade, the relationship between State, universities and students has been changing rapidly (Acherman et al. 1989; Barr et al. 1993; Williams 1990; Henkel et al. 1999), and some arguments are presented that equity in access to higher education must be guaranteed (Mora 1997; UNESCO 1998; Williams 1992). In this connection, the need is argued for free attendance on higher education and State subsidies to students to cover the costs of education. Firstly, the economic and social condition of university students is presented. Using data from two periods, one academic year from the 60s and one from the 90s, the increase in the degree of equity that the university system had known in recent decades can be verified. According to the analysis, the Portuguese population in general is better represented in the university student body nowadays, than in the 60s. Therefore, it is possible to discuss the maintenance of a low degree of equity in the Portuguese university system. For this, the economic and social condition of university students is compared with ‐ that of the Portuguese population in the 90s. Secondly, the expectations of the students of higher education are presented, in order to understand the value attached by them to a university degree, which explains the social demand for education. Finally, the costs of higher education, both private and public, are evaluated. From this evaluation, it is possible to conclude that the principal source of funding of higher education costs is the student and his/her family and to discuss the need for a more interventionist State in higher education financing.     

Private universities: a way to increase access to university education in Ontario

The citizens of Ontario are requiring increasingly specialized skills. These are needed by the business community so that it will be able to compete effectively in the global economy. A perception exists that the traditional, publicly funded universities in Ontario are ill equipped to provide the necessary training that is required by employers. The reasons cited are the following: (i) inadequately applied science programmes; and (ii) insufficient space to accommodate students pursuing university education. The reduction in funding for Ontario universities makes the expansion of their current infrastructures a rather difficult proposition. Therefore, permitting private universities to operate in Ontario might be a viable option for increasing access to university education.     

Autonomy and control: a university funding formula as an instrument of public policy

Formulas are used in many jurisdictions to allocate public funds among universities which may then have considerable autonomy in the internal allocation of those funds. This paper provides first an overview of formula funding as it affects university education. This is followed by an exposition on the balance between autonomy and accountability in the Province of Ontario. Formula funding in Ontario is used as a case study to evaluate how effective formula-funding has been in encouraging autonomous universities to work towards the attainment of public policy objectives. The analysis shows that four mechanisms have in fact been used - namely formula funding, designated extraformula grants, incentive funding, and controls - and that some objectives are better supported by different mechanisms. The paper concludes with a discussion of the evolution and an evaluation of formula funding in Ontario against the objectives given for its introduction.     

Discourses of the contemporary urban campus in Europe: intimations of Americanisation?

This article studies major structural changes in both the urban context and the internal objectives of universities in Europe. While they enjoy expanded student demand and an elevated role in their city‐region economy as significant creators and repositories of knowledge, they simultaneously confront a funding gap in accommodating these higher student access rates, controversies in the definition and delivery of their wider urban obligation, and the task of harmonisation in tertiary provision, as outlined in the 1999 Bologna Declaration. One proposed way of addressing such major shifts in the contemporary context has been to take on the distinctive internal and externally engaged features of the American research university – employing, for example new diverse funding portfolios, new managerialist objectives of corporate efficiency and globalist competitive strategies. This article assesses the extent and implications of any shift to the US model by examining the resonance in European universities of three main discourses that have influenced US higher education in recent times: (i) multiculturalism and diversity, (ii) neo‐liberal politics and mixed economic welfare policy, and (iii) globalisation. Through semi‐structured interviews with leading personnel in thirteen universities, and related site and document analysis, we determine that substantial evidence exists to suggest that the discourses are not simply US, but rather European as well, portending an institutional shift in the structure, management and contextual levels of engagement of the modern university with its contemporary context. At the same time it would be wrong to assert that the European university has been ‘Americanised’, in that we find, even in these changing times, the critical voice of the academy remains a significant element of the overall civic compact of pluralistic deliberative democracy.     

脱贫攻坚启示下高校资助工作提升路径探索

近年来,我国脱贫攻坚成就显著,形成了中国特色的脱贫智慧,其中高校资助是教育扶贫的重要手段,脱贫攻坚的成功经验对开展资助工作有重要的指导与借鉴意义。从脱贫攻坚队伍建设、精准理念、扶志立志入手,结合目前资助工作短板展开分析,提出实施高校资助工作队伍“三提升”、聚焦精准资助“三精准”、构建立志教育长效体系等,以期推动高校资助工作进一步提质增效,充分发挥资助育人长效作用,助力巩固脱贫攻坚成果。     

The Indian University Grants Commission

The Indian University Grants Commission (UGC), established shortly after Independence, has vested in its powers the responsibility of regulating academic standards as well as disbursing funds provided by central government.Unfortunately, in spite of such responsibilities being entrenched by statute, the UGC has chosen not to exercise them which has had serious consequences for academic standards in Indian universities. The Indian university structure was modelled on the collegiate structure of the University of London with the result that the vast expansion of student numbers in the 1950s and 1960s led to an uncontrolled increase in the number and size of the colleges which themselves came to dominate the university system. Again the UGC chose not to intervene and did not attempt to co-ordinate the growth of the colleges. Bearing in mind the public pressures for an expansion of university education, it would have been unrealistic to expect the UGC to have tried to prevent expansion but it could have sought to moderate it and to impose co-ordination. One result has been the growth of research institutes and high calibre teaching institutes outside the established university system. The UGC is now attempting to remedy the situation but it is clear that this will be a long and uphill task.     

The Contemporary University: Its Socio‐Economic Environment

The contemporary university is subject to very contradictory social and economic demands that are tending to reveal and to accentuate its own contradictions. It is being massified while being told that it must maintain its traditional academic standards. At the same time, it is denied the funding that it needs in order to respond to these demands. Massification accentuates the contradictions between the teaching and the research functions of the university. The need for non‐governmental sources of funding forces the university to undertake practical and targeted rather than fundamental research, thus accentuating contradictions in the research mission of universities and indeed the whole Humboldtian conception of the university. In this situation, both students and teachers are very frustrated and subject to attrition. Solutions can only come from personal initiatives; however, given the Humboldtian model that seems to prevail, students must be better counselled and oriented when they begin their university studies. The idea of the total complementarity of research and teaching must be seriously questioned, and the objectives of teaching according to each level (lower and upper division of undergraduate studies and postgraduate programmes) must be reconsidered.     

EUROPEAN UNION AID TO THE UNIVERSITIES OF CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE: FUNDING PUSH AND NEEDS PULL 1

Since the political changes of 1989, the funding made available by the European Union to support the renewal of the universities of central and eastern Europe has had a dramatic impact on their development. This article examines certain aspects of this funding provision. The financial support that has been offered is unprecedented in scale and quite invaluable from the point of view of the universities concerned. It has been virtually the only support that has been available for purposes of development, as distinct from mere maintenance. However, it is support that has to some extent distorted the pattern of development; moreover and very importantly, it has had only a limited impact in one area that is central to institutional needs, namely the renewal of management structures within the universities. This one‐sidedness is a central issue, and one which must be addressed both as a matter of fundamental need for the universities themselves and as an urgent demand of preparation for entry into the European Union. So far, this issue has been addressed to only a very limited extent, and in this respect, some discrepancy between funding push and (real) needs pull exists in regard to the European Union funding programmes.

     

Public university governance in China and Australia: a comparative study

There are several common trends and challenges in the higher education (HE) system around the world, like expansion and diversification of HE, fiscal pressure and orientation to markets, demand for greater accountability and great quality and efficiency (e.g. The financing and management of higher education: a status report on worldwide reforms, 1998; Internationalisation of higher education and global mobility 43-58, 2014; Global policy and policy-making in education, 2014; Higher Education Policy 21:5-27, 2008). These trends and changes have reshaped university governance as well. Public universities are the main institutions to carry out HE in Australia and China. The engagement between Australia and China in HE sector has become closer and closer in recent years. To conduct better and further cooperation and collaboration between Australian and Chinese universities, it is critical to understand and acknowledge the differences in two nations’ university governance. Moreover, by conducting this comparative study of two nations, it also helps us to figure out the changes in university governance over times under the global trends and the interactions between global and local factors. This comparative study focuses on the university level and attempts to identify the differences of university governance in Australian and Chinese public universities in three dimensions, state-university relation, university internal governance and university finance. This paper sketches the university governance in Australia and China and finds that the relationship between government and university is looser in Australia than that in China and Australian universities enjoy more autonomy and power than Chinese universities; as to university internal governance, Australian universities use a more business-oriented management mechanism; funding associated with full-fee paying international students has become very important for Australian HE while Chinese government funding has been decreasing as well but funds from international students play a minimal financial role.     

The relationship between university autonomy and funding in England and Taiwan

This paper aims to re-examine the effects offunding on university autonomy since therelationship between university autonomy andfunding is likely to be interpreted as a lineareffect; namely, the more funding the greaterautonomy. Such a simplistic vision is less than complete since it ignores the complicated nature of university autonomy. The nature of the latter should be defined contextually and politically. Itsinterpretation should also be placed in thechanging government-university relationships.This paper argues that the effect of funding on university autonomy is conditioned by the nature of university autonomy in a given country. While universityautonomy involves more than a financial tie,greater efforts on the part of universities todiversify their funding bases may well notenhance, at least directly, their autonomy.Through an extensive literature review, andempirical studies conducted in England and Taiwan, the argument of this paper is supported.     

大学生课外体育锻炼坚持行为的影响因素研究

运用结构方程模型方法对230名普通大学生课外体育锻炼的主要影响因素进行了实证分析。结果显示:研究采用的结构方程模型与研究假设和构想概念拟合度较好;锻炼条件、锻炼氛围和锻炼承诺三变量对大学生课外体育锻炼坚持行为有较好地预测和解释。其中,影响大学生课外体育锻炼坚持机制中起主导作用的是内因——参与体育锻炼的行为意图(锻炼承诺)。锻炼氛围对锻炼坚持行为的直接作用路径在有无锻炼承诺群体中均具有显著性意义,即能使个体从无锻炼承诺向有锻炼承诺转变,促进有锻炼承诺的群体更长久地坚持体育锻炼。     

Higher education funding reform and university–industry links in developing countries: The case of Thailand

Most investigations into the effects of funding changes on higher education systems have been carried out in developed economies. This article focuses on the Thai higher education system, applying theoretical arguments and empirical analyses to the case of a newly industrialising country. One goal of the Thai higher education funding reform is to cut public spending and to stimulate university–industry cooperation as a means to obtain additional university income. This article presents empirical data based on an investigation into the cooperation activities of five Thai universities. The results show that both individuals and organisations react to changes in university funding: university–industry relations are becoming more frequent and are promoted by university administrations. The financial benefits for the universities as well as the technological benefits for the cooperating companies are, however, both very limited.     

第三部门视野下的高等学校筹资

高校筹资是高等学校生存和发展的命脉。现在我国高等学校都面临着资金上的困难，虽然对公立高校实行了成本分担制度，但效果并不是很理想。民办高校筹资情况更加不容乐观，基本上是以学养学。筹资困难和现在我们单纯二元式的高等教育观有很大关系，如果将高等学校看作第三部门的组织，则应当有助于高校筹资的多元化。