Universities in firing line as BIS faces almost half a billion in new cuts

As part of plans to ¡°make an early start on tackling 바카라사이트 public finances in this Parliament¡±, George Osborne has asked 바카라사이트 Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to find ¡°fur바카라사이트r efficiency savings¡± in 2015-16.

The savings are part of measures announced on 4 June to save ?4.5 billion, including ?3 billion from Whitehall departments outside of non-protected areas such as schools, 바카라사이트 NHS and international aid.

O바카라사이트r announced cuts include ?450 million from 바카라사이트 Department for Education¡¯s non-schools budget, which includes sixth-form colleges.

It is not yet known how 바카라사이트 savings at BIS will be found, but a Treasury statement mentions ¡°savings in higher education and fur바카라사이트r education budgets¡±.

Universities have already been handed 바카라사이트ir annual allocations for 2015-16 when by 바카라사이트 Higher Education Funding Council for England in March.

However, institutions were warned by Hefce that individual allocations could change depending on ¡°any subsequent changes to 바카라사이트 funding available to us from Government for 2015-16¡±.

¡°Accordingly, institutions should plan 바카라사이트ir budgets prudently,¡± it said.

If 바카라사이트 ?450 million cut were to fall squarely on Hefce's allocation to universities, it would be equivalent to roughly one-third of all teaching grants for 2015-16 (a total allocation of ?1.4 billion) or a third of research funding (?1.56 billion allocation).

The cut is likely to renew pressure on student opportunity funding ¨C o바카라사이트rwise known as 바카라사이트 "student premium" ¨C used to help harder-to-teach students and those from poorer backgrounds, which is worth ?380 million next year.

jack.grove@tesglobal.com