Funding competitions

Funding competitions allow higher education providers to bid for funding to address priority issues which affect students.

Funding for strategic projects is provided to help providers to deliver practical results for their students.

Office for Students (OfS) competitions take two forms:

1. Challenge Competitions - competitions where funding is provided only by the OfS.
2. Funding competitions - competitions where funding is provided by the OfS and/or other organisations.

Individual students or academics cannot apply for funding through our funding competitions. 

How do OfS funding competitions work?

We will support specific issues through bidding competitions which we will advertise throughout the year.

Each competition will have its own aims, depending on the issue or topic it is designed to address.

This also means that each competition will have different rules. We will explain when funded projects should begin and end, and by when our funding should be spent.

We will not accept any bids outside of these competitions.

This funding will support students and the higher education sector where evidence suggests that it will not on its own, or through other means, achieve specific aims or objectives.

The intent is to deliver practical outcomes for students. We will not fund research, as this is now the responsibility of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).