Introduction

The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales is an executive Non-Departmental Public Body established in May 1992 under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992.

The Council is responsible for the administration of funds made available by the Secretary of State for Wales in support of the provision of education and the undertaking of research by higher education institutions in Wales and the provision of prescribed courses of higher education in further education institutions in Wales, the funding of teacher training and the accreditation of providers of initial training for school teachers and the performance of such supplementary functions as are required of it by the Further and Higher Education Act 1992.

The sponsoring department of the Council is the Welsh Office and its funding is supplied by Welsh Office grant-in-aid. The Council assumed responsibility for funding higher education in Wales on 1 April 1993.

The Council is an independent body with its own Chairman and is supported by an executive established jointly with the Further Education Funding Council for Wales.

The Council consists of between eight and twelve members and meets seven times per year. Appointments are made by the Secretary of State for Wales and are based on merit. The Welsh Office operates an open recruitment policy and forthcoming Council vacancies are notified in the press. Members are drawn from backgrounds in industry, finance or higher education and are appointed for a three-year term of office which may be renewed by the Secretary of State.

Achievements in 1996/97

Full information on achievements in 1996­97 will be recorded in the Annual Report to be published in September 1997. In addition to the targets for enrolments given below, the following may be noted.

• Of the 17 quality assessments conducted to date by the Council for 1996/97 seven judged to be excellent. In two others substantial parts of the provision were identified as excellent. No unsatisfactory provision identified

• Completion, with the other UK higher education funding bodies, of the 1996 UK Research Assessment Exercise. The outcomes were announced in December 1996 and marked a considerably improved performance for Welsh institutions over the previous 1992 exercise, specifically the number of departments rated 5*, 5 or 4 increased by 88%

• Total institutional research income (excluding Council grant) for 1995/96* was £49.9 million

• Total income from services rendered by institutions to industry, commerce and public services amounted to £29.5 million in 1995/96*

(* 1996/97 data not yet available)

Plans for 1997/98

The following lists the priority areas to which attention will be given in 1997/98. These exist within the Council's primary responsibility of distributing funding to higher education institutions in Wales:

• move towards the long-term goal of funding all taught provision on the basis of credit;

• identify and implement strategies for supporting institutions in the task of determining the long-term structural and adaptational changes in educational portfolios required to meet the challenges of the next decade;

• assist institutions in ensuring that the output of high quality training for Secondary teachers meets the targets set by the Welsh Office;

• oversee the transfer of arrangements for the assessment of the quality of education within the Welsh higher education sector to the Quality Assurance Agency on a contractual basis;

• improvement in the quality of research undertaken;

• increased orientation towards research which may be identified as having wealth creating potential ;

• continue to encourage institutions to give priority to the effective management of their estates, making use of the Private Finance Initiative;

• monitor the financial health of the sector, with action being taken where necessary;

• encourage institutions to maintain their vitality through the adoption of a longer term strategic outlook;

• continue to give due weight to the contributions which the sector makes to the economic and social life of Wales;

• support strategies aimed at integrating activities.

In addition the work of the Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education will have a major impact on the Council in the coming year. The Council has submitted evidence to the Committee and it will expect to respond to the recommendations of the report when this is issued in summer 1997.

Key Performance Targets
	1994/95		1995/96		1996/97		1997/98
Key Measure	Set	Achieved	Set	Achieved	Set	Achieved	Set
Fundable full-time equivalent student (FTE)	57,710	57,779	58,600	58,990	60,800	61,640	64,200
Part-time fundable undergraduate (UG)	11,600	11,076	11,500	11,706	11,500	12,296	793,400
2-year FT/S fundable and non-fundable FTE UG diploma	-	-	8,680	7,451	5,400	4,981	5,000
Science/technology full-time/sandwich fundable FTE UG	14,000	13,866	14,300	14,063	14,800	14,862	15,000
Initial training (ITT), secondary shortage subject intake	-	-	-	-	684	478	664