§ Mr. George HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills if he will list the average cost per student place in higher education for each university and higher education institution for(a) undergraduate students and (b) post-graduate students in each year since 1980. [94707]
§ Margaret HodgeThe information requested is not held centrally. The Government allocates funding for higher education in England to the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). The HEFCE provide teaching grants on the basis that similar courses are funded at similar rates irrespective of the institution providing the education. The detailed allocations are calculated according to the numbers and types of students in the institutions, and the courses they are taking. Different courses are weighted at different levels to reflect, for example, the higher costs of providing laboratory-based and medical courses. There are also adjustments made to the calculations to reflect London weighting, the additional costs of teaching students from disadvantaged backgrounds and mature and part-time students. Average funding per student in institutions will therefore reflect these weightings and adjustments.
Funding for post-graduate research students is also provided through the HEFCE's research funding allocation. The Council allocate funding for research selectively to institutions according to their relative strength in research as measured through the periodic Research Assessment Exercise. The amount of research funding therefore varies widely between institutions.
Institutions receive their teaching and research funding as a block grant and are able to decide how it should be spent.