Higher education: the audit

Expansion
Home undergraduates (first degree and other undergraduate) numbers full and part time in HE and FE

1996-1997 1,439,569
1997-1998 1,466,419
1998-1999 1,479,056
1999-2000 1,488,046
2000-2001 1,306,500 (FE numbers unavailable)

Funding
Total government spending on HE

1989-1990 £3.0bn
1990-1991 £3.3bn
1991-1992 £3.7bn
1992-1993 £4.0bn
1993-1994 £4.3bn
1994-1995 £4.6bn
1995-1996 £4.7bn
1996-1997 £4.6bn
1997-1998 £4.7bn
1998-1999 £4.9bn
1999-2000 £5.2bn
2000-2001 £5.4bn
2001-2002 £5.8bn

Spending on HE as % of GDP

1989-1990 0.92%   1990-1991 0.94%   1991-1992 1.02%
1992-1993 1.10%   1993-1994 1.11%   1994-1995 1.12%
1995-1996 1.12%    1996-1997 1.02%   1997-1998 0.99%
1998-1999 0.93%   1999-2000 0.91%   2000-2001 0.94%
2001-2002 0.96%   2002-2003 0.95%   2003-2004 0.95%

Cash per student
Unit of funding

1995-1996 £5,310
1996-1997 £4,950
1997-1998 £4,820
1998-1999 £4,810
1999-1900 £4,810
2000-2001 £4,780
2001-2002 £4,810
2002-2003 £4,810
2003-2004 £4,830

Student grants
Spending on maintenance grants

1986-1987 £479.6m
1990-1991 £713.4m
1997-1998 £931.6m
1998-1999 £782.8m
1999-2000 £433.9m
2000-2001 £230.2m
2001-2002 £139.5m

Student fees
Tuition fee income from FTE home and EU undergraduates

1990-1991 £0
1998-1999 £110.7m
1999-2000 £243m
2000-2001 £342.7m

Tuition fee outlay by government

1990-1991 £843.8m
1998-1999 £678.8m
1999-2000 £588.5m
2000-2001 £510.3m

Student finance

Grant
1986-1987 £1,902
1989-1990 £2,155
Loans introduced
1990-1991 (grant) £2,265 (loan) £420
1996-1997 (grant) £1,710 (loan) £1,645
1998-1999 (grant) £810 (loan) £2,735
1999-2000 (grant) £0 (loan) £3,635
2000-2001 (loan) £3,725

Science funding
Office of Science and Technology spending, excluding other departmental cash and research council spending

1996-1997 £1.3bn
1997-1998 £1.3bn
1998-1999 £1.3bn
1999-2000 £1.5bn
2000-2001 £1.6bn
2001-2002 £1.7bn
2002-2003 £1.9bn
2003-04 £2.1bn

Research spending as % of GDP

1996-1997 0.17
1997-1998 0.16
1998-1999 0.15
1999-2000 0.17
2000-2001 0.16
2001-2002 0.18
2002-2003 0.19
2003-2004 0.19

Teaching quality

Estimated cost of Teaching Quality Assessment 2000-2001 £250m

Estimated proportion of lecturers' time spent on TQA 30%.

Percentage of university departments gaining 22 out of 24 for teaching

1995-1996 25
1996-1998 35
1998-2000 60
2001 75 (provisional)

Student:staff ratios

1980-1981 8.9
1985-1986 9.5
1990-1991 11.3
1995-1996 15.9
1998-1999 16.9

Academic pay
Expenditure on academic pay as % of total university expenditure

1976-1977 38
1986-1987 33
1998-1999 33

Lecturers' pay (B grade)

1972-1973 £4,299
1981-1982 £12,860
1988-1989 £19,310
1991-1992 £23,739
1996-1997 £,196
1997-1998 £,985
1998-1999 £28,545
1999-2000 £30,065
2000-2001 £30,967

As % of GP's salary

1972-1973 77.1
1981-1982 71.6
1988-1989 67
1991-1992 68.5
1996-1997 61.3
1997-1998 61.1
1998-1999 58.2
1999-2000 59.2
2000-2001 57.1

Percentage of teaching and research staff on fixed-term contracts

1994-1995 38.5
1998-1999 42.2

Percentage of teaching-only staff on fixed-term contracts

1994-1995 23.8
1998-1998 29.4

Percentage of research-only staff on fixed-term contracts

1994-1995 92.7
1998-1999 93.6

Principal sources : DfEE; UUK; AUT; Natfhe; NUS; the Dearing report; the Bett report;the Taylor report; Changing Student Finances by Claire Callender and Martin Kemp of South Bank University; Higher Education: Access and Higher Education: Student Retention reports by the Commons' Education Sub-Committee.

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