OfS announces £1.4 billion funding for higher education

The OfS will distribute £1.4 billion in non-capital grants to universities and colleges, with funding targeted to support high-cost subjects, student access and success, the growth and development of Level 6 degree apprenticeships, and to encourage greater provision of Level 4 and 5 qualifications.

The OfS is also distributing £450 million in capital grants for the three financial years 2022-‑23 to 2024-25 combined, which will in the main be allocated through a bidding exercise already underway,

Today’s announcement follows the guidance on higher education issued earlier this year by the Secretary of State for Education and the Minister of State for Higher and Further Education, which set out the government’s funding priorities.

Total non-capital grants for the 2022-23 academic year provide an increase of £72 million (5.5 per cent) compared with the equivalent budget for the previous year. The total comprises £1,347 million in recurrent grant for providers, and £26 million in funding for national facilities and regulatory initiatives.

Within the recurrent funding total for providers:

• High-cost subject funding is increasing by 8.1 per cent to £817 million. High-cost subject funding relates to a specific area of OfS funding which is provided directly to universities to supplement student course fees. The increased total is sufficient to provide an increase to the rate of grant for students in clinical and laboratory-based healthcare and STEM subjects of 4.75 per cent in cash terms (1.2 per cent in real-terms). The rate of grant for other high-cost subjects is maintained in real-terms.
• Rates of funding for the nursing, midwifery and allied health supplement and the budget for the very high-cost STEM subjects allocation are also maintained in real terms.
• New allocations of £8 million each will support growth and development in degree apprenticeships and encourage and support Level 4 and 5 provision.
• The budgets for the student premiums for full-time and part-time undergraduates and the disabled students’ premium are maintained in cash terms. We are also maintaining the overall funding available to support student transitions and mental health.
• The total funding available to support world-leading specialist providers is increasing by £5 million to £58 million.

The OfS has also announced today the allocation of £4 million to universities and colleges to address hardship of students affected by the events in Ukraine. This funding is to be distributed by providers to their students during the 2022-23 financial year.

Nolan Smith, director of resources and finance at the OfS, said:

'Our funding approach, which has regard for the priorities set by the government, allocates significant resources to help universities and colleges to deliver high-cost subjects. There are also increases this year in the funding we provide to world-leading specialist providers, as well as new hardship funding designed to support students from Ukraine.'

Notes

1. The total recurrent funding to be distributed by the OfS for academic year 2022-23 is £1,373 million.
2. Clinical and laboratory-based healthcare and STEM subjects (science, technology engineering and mathematics) refer to those in the OfS’s price groups A, B and C1.1 covering:
   1. Anatomy and Physiology, Pharmacy and Pharmacology
   2. Archaeology
   3. Clinical Dentistry, Dental Hygiene and Therapy
   4. Clinical Medicine
   5. Engineering subjects
   6. Information Technology
   7. Nursing and allied health professions (pre-registration courses);
   8. Sciences (Agriculture; Forestry and Food Science; Earth, Marine and Environmental Sciences; Biosciences, Chemistry, Physics);
   9. Veterinary Science
3. Other high-cost subjects are those in performing and creative arts and media studies, which fall into price group C1.2.
4. Some subjects, those described by the OfS as being in price groups C2 (intermediate-cost subjects with a laboratory, studio or fieldwork element, such as geography, mathematics, languages or psychology), or D (classroom-based subjects such as humanities, business or social sciences) do not attract high-cost subject funding.
5. Academic year refers to the period 1 August to 31 July; financial year refers to the period 1 April to 31 March.
6. Read the statutory guidance from the Secretary of State on the Higher Education Strategic Priorities Grant.
7. The OfS has published bidding guidance for universities and colleges applying for capital grants for financial years 2022-23 to 2024-25.
8. The OfS has today published its decisions on funding for 2022-23.