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The universities and colleges that participated in Britain's research assessment exercise are ranked according to their total research assessment scores. The performance of each university is also rendered graphically. The University of Cambridge, Imperial College and Oxford University had the top scores.

The Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) has unveiled its strategic plan for 2003-2008, giving a blueprint for the next five years of higher education in England and extending the UK government's policy of specialisation. The new plan promises extra funding for teaching excellence and collaboration with local business rewarding universities and colleges for playing to their strengths, rather than for excellence in research and widening participation as they are now. According to Sir Howard Newby, chief executive of Hefce, universities and colleges need to understand that not all of them can meet the full range of stakeholder and customer needs and that they need to work on the development of the areas in which they are strong so that the higher education sector as a whole can deliver all that is required of it.

Universities in England that charge low tuition fees could be in line for additional cash in an attempt to avert a fall in quality under plans to be considered by the Higher Education Funding Council for England later in 2003. The council has stated that it will consult about giving consideration to the potential consequences of the government's decision to give institutions the ability to charge variable fees from 2006-2007.

Issues relating to the funding allocations for higher education in England are examined and the winners and losers identified. Around 20,000 university researchers in England will see cash siphoned from their departments in 2003-2004 in order to top-up world-class research, with funding for 12,000 researchers in departments whose work had been rated 4 by the 2001 research assessment exercise being cut to UKPd118 mil in 2003-204, vs UKPd139 mil in 2002-2003.

Stark new divisions have emerged between research and teaching-led universities in England as the country's higher education budgets were set for 2003-2004. The budgets, which rose by 6% to UKPd5.5 bil vs 2002-2003, marked the start of the Higher Education Funding Council for England's implementation of the government's policy of specialisation, with funding for research in less prestigious universities being plundered to finance research in elite universities, and teaching grants to elite universities being raided to finance non-traditional students in former polytechnics.

Disabled students in the United Kingdom are not receiving all the benefits that are due to them, according to data published by the higher education funding councils. According to the figures, just 1.4% of students receive disability benefit while between 4%-5% of the student population is believed to have a disability. The data reveals that Plymouth University, with 4.5%, has the highest proportion of disabled students, while the universities of Huddersfield, Gloucestershire and Birmingham, along with St George's Hospital Medical School, occupy the other end of the scale with no disabled students.

More and more university staff are earning large wage packets, with a growing number earning six-figure salaries, according to a survey conducted by the Times Higher Education Supplement which examined university accounts relating to the financial year ending 31 July 2001. The number of staff earning over UKPd50,000/yr, the level at which it becomes compulsory for it to be declared in financial accounts, rose to over 9,000, vs 7,500 in the previous year, while the number of academics earning over UKPd150,000/yr rose to 12 from nine. Of the 164 institutions surveyed, only six had no members of staff on over UKPd50,000/yr.

Young academics in the UK could experience a boom in job opportunities the likes of which hasn't been seen for a generation, according to statistics compiled by the Higher Education Statistics Agency. The statistics reveal that many of the new universities have a high proportion of older staff which they will have to replace. The figures suggest that the new universities will be forced to replace thousands of staff.

An analysis of a table which reveals the details of the additional income universities in the UK will generate from top-up fees when they are introduced in 2006. The table also details the amount the universities expect to reinvest in bursaries and outreach efforts and the level this additional income is expected to reach in 2010.

An overview of the range of incentives and financial support options being made available by universities in England for students when top-up fees are introduced in 2006. Also examined are the contents of an analysis of a table listing the maximum and minimum that the poorest students attending university in England can expect to receive by way of a bursary from 2006.

Leaders from higher and further education have united to criticise the UK Government for wasting an opportunity to reform 16-to-19 education by ditching the central plank of Sir Mike Tomlinson's proposals for the creation of an overarching diploma that it was hoped would improve the number of students staying on in education. The Government's alternate plans are criticised as being retrograde and damaging and it is noted that they ignore the advice of the thousands of experts who contributed to the Tomlinson report.

Female university heads are amongst those doing best in the latest ranking of senior academic salaries. On average, the figures reveal that university vice-chancellors earned UKPd144, 420, with comparisons with figures from 10 years ago revealing that vice-chancellors salaries have more than doubled.

The number of students applying to start university this year are only slightly up on last year, according to the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, despite fears that students would rush to start university this year in order to avoid the introduction of top-up fees in 2006. The number of full-time students at universities in the UK rose by under 1% in 2004 to 377,544.

An analysis of research conducted by The Times Higher Education Supplement which reveals that students from the middle classes still dominate higher education in certain fields. The research reveals that in medicine and dentistry, students from the higher social classes account for 74% of course admissions, while those from lower social classes only account for 14% of admissions. Mathematical and computer sciences were revealed to be the most egalitarian of disciplines, with 46% of admissions coming from the higher social classes and 27% from the lower social classes.

The interim recommendations of a government-commissioned review of university admissions, led by Steven Schwartz, vice-chancellor of Brunel University, has identified five principles that it claims underline a fair admissions system. These principles are that it be transparent, that it use reliable assessment methods, that it enables universities and colleges to select students who will be able to finish the course as judged by their potential and their achievements, that it minimise barriers for applicants, and that it be professional in every respect. The Schwartz review also warns against automatically making lower entry offers to students from state schools.

Academic unions have accused university vice-chancellors of double standards after it emerged that in 2002-2003, the most recent year for which figures are available, vice-chancellors accepted average pay rises of 6%, far higher than those offered to their staff. The average wage of a vice-chancellor rose to UKPd135,000 in 2002-2003. Sally Hunt, general secretary of the Association of University Teachers, whose members are due to go on strike over this year's 3% pay offer, stated that the figures show why so many academics and other college staff are prepared to take industrial action over the issue of pay.

The way in which research funding is allocated to universities is to be fundamentally changed from 2009, with the next research assessment exercise replacing the existing grades with profiles of quality designed to bring to an end the game-playing by which universities attempt to maximise their financial gain. The next research assessment exercise, which will inform the allocation of about UKPd8 bil worth of funding, will make pockets of excellence immediately obvious and will reduce the risk that staff could be poached by bigger, better-funded departments.

Education secretary has written a letter to David Young, chairman of the Higher Education Funding Council for England, in which he effectively order funding chiefs to slow recruitment to degree courses ahead of the introduction of top-up fees, which are due to be introduced from 2006. The official deadline for applications for courses taking place in 2004-2005 falls during week commencing 11 January 2003, and there is expected to be an increase in the number of applicants for places. Much of this growth is down to an increase in the number of school leavers and improvements in exam results, but there are fears that the numbers will be added to as people rush to enter higher education before fees rise. Clarke wrote his letter to Young as he is worried that there may not be enough money available to support the growth in student numbers in 2005-2006.

A poll conducted by the Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) reveals that the government faces an uphill battle if it is to get its planned university top-up fees legislation through an hostile Parliament. Of the 143 vocal Labour critics of the top-up fee plans contacted by the THES in its survey, only three said that they had been convinced by the government's arguments and would now support the legislation. The legislation will fail if just 83 of Labour's 408 MPs vote against it, assuming, as is expected, that all 54 Liberal Democrat and 163 Conservative MPs also vote against it. Under the plans, universities will be allowed to charge variable top-up fees of up to UKPd3,000/yr.

The Association of University Teachers (AUT) has claimed that, under the offer for higher education pay that is currently being negotiated, plumbers, cleaners and porters could wind up earning more than lecturers. Employers responded by stating that the figures released by the AUT are 'nonsense', while other trade unions, the majority of which have already accepted the new pay scheme, also questioned their validity.

An examination of the options that are open to the people who are stepping down from positions as university vice-chancellors and the challenges that face those taking up new vice-chancellor positions. New vice-chancellors profiled include Malcolm Grant at University College London, Tim Wilson at the University of Hertfordshire, and Les Ebdon at the University of Luton.

The financial benefits of getting an university degree have grown with the expansion of higher education, according to an ongoing study being conducted by Peter Elias of the Institute for Employment Research at the University of Warwick and Kate Purcell of the Employment Studies Research Unit at the University of the West of England. The research reveals that earnings are increasing more quickly for recent graduates - in particular women - than for people who graduated in 1980, despite the proportion of people who have entered higher education having more than doubled.

Under proposals put forward by the Higher Education Funding Council for England, teaching grants awarded to universities offering traditional degrees will be reduced in order to finance courses favoured by the government. If the plans are approved, it will be the second consecutive year that the teaching grants received by 'elite' universities will have been cut in order to support non-traditional students.

Politicians and academics have reacted angrily to the government's dismissal of their warnings about student funding, staff pay and research concentration. The government's dismissal came in the form of the Department for Education and Skill's responses to the consultation on the government's higher education white paper and to the report produced by the House of Commons education select committee on the white paper. Barry Sheerman, chairman of the select committee which produced a report savaging most of the proposals in the white paper, noted that some members of the committee may wonder whether all the work that they put into producing a report regarded by many as innovative and thoughtful has made any difference at all to government thinking.

An analysis of how the fall in the value of the stock markets has affected the financial health of universities and colleges in the United Kingdom since the Times Higher Education Supplement last conducted a survey of university wealth in 2001. The survey reveals that Cambridge is still the richest institution in the UK, with net assets up by 0.6% to UKPd1.23 bil, followed by Oxford with net assets up 0.2% to UKPd809 mil and Edinburgh with net assets up 1.4% to UKPd696 mil. However, the fall in the stock markets has impacted on the value of the endowments of a number of institutions, with Cambridge still leading the tables but seeing its endowments fall by 25.8% to UKPd490 mil, followed by Oxford with endowments down 24% to UKPd390 mil and Edinburgh with endowments down 13.4% to UKPd142 mil.

Further education is at the centre of plans unveiled by the government in a new skills white paper to close the skills gap between the United Kingdom and its competitors, however the additional funding for individual learners will come with strings attached. Other plans contained within the white paper include free tuition for adults who dropped out of school without obtaining basic qualifications, an expansion of the modern apprenticeship scheme and a UKPd30/week adult learning grant for priority groups in full-time further education.

The life and career of Margaret Hodge, minister for higher education in the Labour government in the United Kingdom, is examined in the light of her move to minister for children in the latest government reshuffle. It is argued that few will shed any tears over the exit of Hodge following her two years in charge of higher education.

One third of higher education institutions in England are to be excluded from the research assessment exercise, resulting in about 28 colleges no longer being eligible for research grants from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce). Under the proposals from Hefce, establishments where research accounts for under 2% of the total research and teaching grants would be affected. The chief executive of Universities UK, Diana Warwick, stated that there is a concern that Hefce's plans will result in the creation of a limited and differentiated sector that does not truly reflect the complexity of how universities have to operate in the public interest nationally, regionally and internationally.

Natfhe, a lecturers' union, the National Union of Students and the Association of University Teachers - unions which together represent more than five millions students and 110,000 academics in the UK - have expressed their utter opposition to the UK government's plans for the biggest reform of higher education since the 1960s. The three unions have united in a campaign to block plans contained within the government's white paper on higher education to introduce top-up fees, to allow the creation of teaching-only universities and to concentrate research funding.

The Department for Education and Skills (DFES) is rethinking the role of the access regulator following criticism from senior figures in higher education of the UK government's initial draft proposals. Under the revised proposals, the government will now expect universities to increase the volume of applications from disadvantaged students, rather than the actual number of admissions, by showing they have bursary schemes and outreach activities. The DFES added that the access regulator will not interfere in the details of university admissions policies and that having an heavy-handed approach to admissions policies would in fact be arbitrary and would fail to actually tackle the problem.

Issues relating to the decision that faces universities in the UK regarding the level at which they should set their tuition fees from 2006 onwards are examined. The maximum fee that universities will be able to charge will be UKPd3,000/yr. Indicators looked at which could influence the decision made by the universities include entry standards, popularity, quality, dropout rates, returns and regional influences.

Nine out of every 10 universities and colleges in the UK plan to charge the full UKPd3,000/yr fee for courses from 2006, a move that is expected to curb student choice and threaten the government's plans for higher education. Universities believe that they will have to charge the full amount in order to avoid the possibility that students could equate cheaper degrees with poorer quality. If all institutions were to charge full fees, it would also have an impact on government finances, with an additional UKPd1.8 bil being required to provide the student loans to cover the fees.

An analysis of a survey of the pay packets of university and college heads in the UK 2001-2002. The survey reveals that the total pay of the 164 people surveyed rose by over UKPd750,000 to total in excess of UKPd20 mil, with L. Tyson, vice-chancellor of London Business School topping the table with wages of UKPd316,000, followed by R. Sykes, vice-chancellor of Imperial College with UKPd218,000 and M. Wright, vice-chancellor of Aston University with UKPd194,000.

University vice-chancellors have accepted pay rises far in excess of those awarded to their staff, according to a survey conducted by The Times Higher Education Supplement which revealed that vice-chancellors got a 6% median rise last year. Tom Wilson of lecturers' union Natfhe stated that it was beyond belief that the pay of vice-chancellors should increase by almost double the 3.5% that was awarded to their staff and called on the Higher Education Funding Council for England to ensure that the same standards of transparency and fairness apply to the pay of vice-chancellors as to the pay of other staff.

Efforts to boost the number of people from non-traditional backgrounds entering higher education in the UK are to be redoubled under proposals contained within the government's white paper on higher education. One such proposal, the creation of an access regulator with the power to hand out fines to institutions deemed to be not doing enough to improve access, has been deemed 'repulsive by Steven Schwartz, vice-chancellor of Brunel University. Schwartz notes that there are a wide range of factors - such as role models, family values, school quality, the attraction of vocational training and the availability of jobs - which contribute to the decision about whether or not to go to university, and none of these factors can be controlled by the university, therefore it is unfair to be penalised for failing to attract enough people from these backgrounds.

A group of 13 senior staff at University College London has been credited with halting plans to merge with Imperial College following news that merger talks between the two had been called off. The group was headed by Mary Fulbrook, head of German at University College, and also included geneticist Steve Jones.

The Northern Universities Consortium for Credit Accumulation and Transfer and the Southern England Consortium for Credit Accumulation and Transfer are working to create a unified system of transferring student credits between British universities and colleges. The current system often leaves students with credits that do not count at their new university. The consortiums are looking at modeling the new system after the credit system in Scotland.

This article discusses the economic aspects of the planned merger between London Guildhall and North London Universities. Topics include merger financing, academic structure, estate sales, and student aid.

College teachers unions are upset at the average raise of 8.5% of pay received by the vice-chancellors of British universities to be outrageous. Teachers felt that the money could have been better spent. The 20 million pounds sterling combined salary of all the vice-chancellors could fund an academic staff of 1000.

The way that university research is assessed and funded in Britain is examined in detail. There is concern about the efficacy of research assessment exercises.

Issues concerning statistical information reflecting the wealth levels of universities in the United Kingdom are discussed. Particular attention is given to analysis of the statistical data, emphasizing trends and extremes in financial management of higher education institutions.

Issues concerning statistical information representing the financial strength of universities in Great Britain are discussed. Particular attention is given to types of funds held by British universities and to comparative data between universities' financial levels.

The United Kingdom's government is failing in its attempts to get more people to go on to higher education or to join training schemes in 2001. The Labour government's plans are not being fulfilled and a drop in eligibility will make this worse.

Issues surrounding intellectual property and the public and commercial aspects of knowledge are discussed. Free access to information may be in the public good, but this must be balanced against the commercial costs of developing knowledge.

Issues concerning the letting of university facilities to generate extra profits are discussed. The prohibitive costs of their conference facilities and the need for university departments to find cheaper alternatives for academic events is examined.

The extent to which universities attract and retain students from under-represented neighbourhoods is analysed. The high success rate of Paisley University is contrasted with older universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, Bristol and Durham.

A profile of scientist Frances Ashcroft reveals a multi-talented woman with a passion for science and a talent for communicating ideas to the public. She deals in physical extremes, from the heights of mountains to the depths of the oceans, assessing how people cope and adapt from personal experience.

Some colleges run access courses for mature students to enable them to go on to enrol on higher education courses. But other prospective students find it hard to arrange the grants they require before going on to university. A project where a group of young mothers were given the chance to study found the young women were keen to continue their education. Only 8% of mature students on part-time degree courses at British universities are from poorer areas. The Open University caters for 125,000 part-time students, with 36% of students not having studied since they were 16 years.

Some higher education institutions, in the UK, are looking at ways of encouraging students from ethnic minorities and the poor to apply to their establishments. The University of Bradford, England, is attempting to make its courses more accessible. They have employed a worker to try to increase the links between the university and the community. Some observers have pointed out many poor students are frightened of building up large debts by attending university. Others suggest some good students do not go on to university as they fear they will not fit in and will be excluded.