43723 UniUK Devolution 12/11/08 13:04 Page i Research report Devolution and higher education: impact and future trends 43723 UniUK Devolution 12/11/08 13:04 Page ii Research reports This series of Research reports published by Universities UK will present the results of research we have commissioned or undertaken in support of our policy development function. The series aims to disseminate project results in an accessible form and there will normally be a discussion of policy options arising from the work. This report has been prepared for Universities UK by Alan Trench, the Law School, University of Edinburgh. The statistical annexe was produced by Nigel Brown and Brian Ramsden. Universities UK also acknowledges, with thanks, the valuable contributions of Jim Gallacher, Jim Gallagher, John Fitz and Bob Osborne to this project. The copyright for this publication is held by Universities UK. The material may be copied or reproduced provided that the source is acknowledged and the material, wholly or in part, is not used for commercial gain. Use of the material for commercial gain requires the prior written permission of Universities UK. 43723 UniUK Devolution 12/11/08 13:04 Page 1 Devolution and higher education: impact and Contents future trends 5 Preface 7 Summary of key messages Section 1 9 Introduction: devolution and the United Kingdom 1.1 9 The legal and administrative structure of devolution 1.2 11 Devolution and the structure of government in Whitehall and Westminster 1.3 13 The management of intergovernmental relations 1.4 14 Devolution and public policy 1.5 14 The 2007 elections Section 2 16 General trends in higher education policy 2.1 16 England 2.2 16 Wales 2.3 17 Scotland 2.4 17 Northern Ireland 2.5 18 The UK role Section 3 19 Students 3.1 19 The student population 3.2 20 Cross-border flows 3.3 20 Participation rates and population figures 3.4 21 International students 3.5 22 Student finance 3.6 23 Cross-border movements of students and financial implications of different fees regimes Section 4 24 Degrees and qualifications Universities UK Devolution and higher education 1 43723 UniUK Devolution 12/11/08 13:04 Page 2 Section 5 25 Institutions 5.1 25 The conferring of university status 5.2 25 Reconfiguration and mergers of institutions Section 6 27 Research 6.1 27 The territorial allocation of research funding 6.2 29 The Research Assessment Exercise 6.3 30 Research collaboration in Scotland and Wales 6.4 30 The Funders’ Forum 6.5 31 The Science Research Investment Fund 6.6 31 Implications of the way research funding is allocated Section 7 33 Funding, finance and fees 7.1 33 The distribution of teaching income 7.2 34 The funding gap in Wales 7.3 35 Fee regimes and the implications of the territorial distribution of teaching income Section 8 37 Conclusions and recommendations Annexe 39 Contextual data by Nigel Brown and Brian Ramsden 2 43723 UniUK Devolution 12/11/08 13:04 Page 3 Index of tables and charts in the annexe 39 Table 1 Population of England (thousands) 47 Table 20 Research grants and contracts: and percentage change over time EU sources 39 Table 2 Population of Scotland 48 Table 21 Market share of research (thousands) and percentage studentships in the four UK change over time countries 40 Table 3 Population of Wales (thousands) 49 Table 22 Income (£) per full-time- and percentage change over time equivalent student, 1999/2000 40 Table 4 Population of Northern Ireland 49 Table 23 Income(£) per full-time- (thousands) and percentage equivalent student, 2005/06 change over time 50 Table 24 Relationship between full-time 41 Table 5 Total higher education level undergraduate applicants and students in the UK 1996/97 acceptances through UCAS by country, 1996 entry 41 Table 6 Total higher education level students in the UK 1999/2000 51 Table 25 Relationship between full-time undergraduate applicants and 42 Table 7 Total higher education level acceptances through UCAS by students in the UK 2005/06 country, 1999 entry 42 Table 8 Percentage change by mode and 51 Table 26 Relationship between full-time level, 1996/97–2005/06 undergraduate applicants and 43 Table 9 Percentage change acceptances through UCAS by 1996/97–2005/06 among full-time country, 2006 entry postgraduates in higher education 52 Table 27 Relationship between places and institutions, split between applicants in each country, 1996, research and taught degree aims 1999 and 2006 entry 43 Table 10 Percentage change 54 Table 28 Students by world region of 1996/97–2005/06 among part- domicile, 1996/97 time postgraduates in higher education institutions, split 54 Table 29 Students by world region of between research and taught domicile, 1999/2000 degree aims 55 Table 30 Students by world region of 44 Table 11 Cross-border flows: full-time UK- domicile, 2005/06 domiciled students, 1996/97 Index of charts 44 Table 12 Cross border flows: full-time UK- 42 Chart 1 Percentage change in student domiciled students, 1999/2000 numbers, 1996/97–2005/06 44 Table 13 Cross-border flows: full-time UK- 53 Chart 2 Percentage of young entrants domiciled students, 2005/06 from state schools and colleges to 45 Table 14 Percentage of academic staff in full-time undergraduate courses major cost centres, 1996/97 through UCAS 45 Table 15 Percentage of academic staff in 53 Chart 3 Percentage of young entrants major cost centres, 1999/2000 from lower socio-economic groups to full-time undergraduate 46 Table 16 Percentage of academic staff in courses through UCAS major cost centres, 2005/06 54 Chart 4 Percentage of young entrants 46 Table 17 Research grants and contracts: from ‘low participation research councils neighbourhoods’ to full-time 47 Table 18 Research grants and contracts: undergraduate courses through charities UCAS 47 Table 19 Research grants and contracts: UK industry and commerce Universities UK Devolution and higher education 3 43723 UniUK Devolution 12/11/08 13:04 Page 4 4 43723 UniUK Devolution 12/11/08 13:04 Page 5 Preface Devolution to Scotland, Wales and Section 6 looks in detail at how research funding (intermittently) Northern Ireland was one of the is allocated territorially, the Research major constitutional reforms initiated by the new Assessment Exercise (RAE), research Labour Government when it took office in 1997. collaboration and pooling, governance This was largely a political project, and one of arrangements and the broader implications of devolution’s key successes was largely to halt, at these issues. Section 7 explores financial issues least for a while, political debates about the – particularly looking at the systems of student position of Scotland (and to a lesser degree funding and their implications for institutions Wales) in the Union, which had bedevilled and the higher education sector in each part of Conservative governments in the 1980s and the UK. Section 8 draws conclusions for the 1990s. development of higher education across the UK as a result of devolution. At an administrative level, devolution bedded in with remarkable ease and remarkable speed. Throughout, the aim has been to give a Consequently, the lack of obvious signs of a comparative picture of policy developments in transition – and the lack of disputes about the four constituent parts of the United Kingdom, devolution, particularly between the government and to try to identify policy issues that arise, of the UK and the devolved administrations – either from the different approaches pursued in meant that the view spread that devolution was a different parts of the country or from the ‘done deal’, a reform that was completed leaving interaction of the different policies each no further issues. Certainly, that was the view in government is pursuing. In this sense, this is not 10 Downing Street for much of last five years. an ‘academic’ piece of work. It does not seek to make any contribution to theoretical debates, That view would not be shared by many involved but it does seek to analyse and understand with making or implementing public policy in higher education policy as it has developed over almost any domestic policy sector and in any the last eight years or so. In order to do this, it part of the UK. Devolution has created a range of has been necessary to summarise and compress anomalies, discrepancies and complexities in a large body of material – including that from almost every sector. background papers prepared by Nigel Brown and This report will explore the implications of Brian Ramsden of Nigel Brown Associates, John devolution for higher education. Section 1, the Fitz of Cardiff University, Jim Gallacher of introduction, summarises the institutional Glasgow Caledonian University, Jim Gallagher of framework of devolution, how intergovernmental the University of Glasgow, and Bob Osborne of relations work, discusses its implications and the University of Ulster. On any particular topic, it effects for Westminster and Whitehall in general would be possible to write a discussion itself the terms, and discusses the political situation and length of this report, and inevitably this means its policy implications as it has developed during that there has been a loss of detail and precision 2007. Section 2 sketches, in broad and general in order to gain the broader perspective that terms, the key features of higher education policy-makers will find most useful. I apologise policy in each of England, Scotland, Wales and to anyone who feels that their territory or their Northern Ireland. It aims to enable readers to work has been slighted or mistreated in this compare the systems and their overall process, and to readers who feel that the report approaches, and to put into context some of the does not supply the level of detail they would more specific policy issues discussed later.