Suggested distribution Education officers, Presidents, education research staff EI/09/026 9th July 2009 Understanding the HE Sector Summary Action For information 1. This Education Information provides an overview of the higher education sector. Institutions Executive Summary Information about the HE sector 2. There are 169 higher education institutions in the UK – 133 in England, 20 in Scotland, 12 in Wales and 4 in Northern Ireland. These institutions range in size from 21 HEIs that have less than 1,000 students to the 45 HEIs that have more than 20,000 students. NEC Contact Aaron Porter 3. There are 169,995 academic staff in the UK (based on 2006/07 HESA data) of which 16,485 are Professors; 33,640 senior lecturers and researchers; 51,935 are lecturers; 36,735 are researchers and 31,185 are listed as “other grades”. aaron.porter@ nus.org.uk Staff Contact Alex Bols alex.bols@ nus.org.uk 4. Academics within HEIs are broadly represented by the Universities and Colleges Union trade union (http://www.ucu.org.uk/) – which is the merger of the old AUT and NATHFE. In Scotland the Educational Institute of Scotland represents significant numbers of academics (http://www.eis.org.uk/). 5. Academics are also brought together by subject area where they can discuss different approaches to teaching and learning. These “Subject Centres” are organised through the Higher Education Academy (HEA) http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/. 6. In addition to the academic staff within an institution there are an increasing number of administrative or professional support staff. The head of the non-academic side within the institution is usually the University Secretary, Registrar or Chief Operating Officer, these positions are represented nationally by the Association of Heads of University Administration (AHUA http://www.ahua.ac.uk/). 7. Within the administrative/professional support side of the institution there are many staff, large numbers of whom have their own national representative body, some of the main ones inlcude: Academic Registrar Academic Registrars Council (ARC) http://www.arc.ac.uk/ Director of Finance British Universities Finance Directors Group (BUFDG) http://www.bufdg.ac.uk/ Head of Student Services The Student Services Organisation (AMOSSHE) http://www.amosshe.org.uk Higher Education Managers Association of University Administrators (AUA) http://www.aua.ac.uk/ 8. The Chief Executive Officer within the HEI is often called the Vice-Chancellor, although the position is also referred to as Principal, Provost, Rector or President. They are represented nationally by Universities UK (which represents 133 university heads) http://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/ and GuildHE (which represents university colleges, small and specialist institutions and some universities) http://www.guildhe.ac.uk/. These two representative bodies collectively represent the “sector” and “own” on behalf of the sector bodies such as QAA, HEA and UCAS. 9. The ceremonial head of the HEI is often the University Chancellor, although in Scotland they are called Rector and are often elected by students. The University Chancellor is often a former politician, businessman or member of the Royal Family. Sector bodies and agencies 10. There are many sector bodies and agencies that have various specific roles and responsibilities. There are too many to list but here are some of the main ones: Higher Education Academy (HEA) The HEA aims to support the sector in providing the best possible learning experience for all students – this includes support for academics through the Subject Centres, awarding National Teaching Fellowships and undertaking research. http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/ Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) The QAA checks how universities maintain their own academic standards and quality. They review and report on how they meet their responsibilities, identify good practice and make recommendation for improvement. Students’ unions in England, Wales and Northern Ireland prepare a Written Submission for the QAA Audit of their institution. http://www.qaa.ac.uk/ Joint Information Services Committee (JISC) JISC's activities support education and research by promoting innovation in new technologies and by the central support of ICT services. JISC also runs JANET (HE network and .ac.uk emails) http://www.jisc.ac.uk/ Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) supports the higher education sector to realise the potential of all staff and students, whatever their race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, religion and belief, or age, to the benefit of those individuals, higher education institutions (HEIs) and society http://www.ecu.ac.uk/ Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) UCAS oversees the application process to UK HEIs. http://www.ucas.com/ Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA) UCEA represents UK higher education institutions, and provides advice and guidance to them, on employment, reward and human resources practice. They are the negotiating body in national pay negotiations. http://www.ucea.ac.uk/ Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) HESA is the statistics agency for HE providing many useful statistics and measuring performance across the sector in their annual Performance Indicators. http://www.hesa.ac.uk/ Office for Fair Access (OFFA) The Office for Fair Access (OFFA) is an independent, non departmental public body which aims to promote and safeguard fair access to higher education for underrepresented groups in light of the introduction of variable tuition fees in 2006-07. http://www.offa.org.uk/ Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA) The OIA has a wide remit to examine student complaints in England and Wales about ‘the omissions and commissions’ of HEIs. It does not examine issues of academic judgment or admissions issues. http://www.oiahe.org.uk/ In Scotland this is done by the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman http://www.spso.org.uk/ Funding higher education 11. Whilst funding comes from the Government in the different parts of the UK, in England, Wales and Scotland the funding is allocated by a Funding Council – the Higher Education Funding Council in England (HEFCE) http://www.hefce.ac.uk/, Higher Education Funding Council in Wales (HEFCW) http://www.hefcw.ac.uk/ and the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) http://www.sfc.ac.uk/. 12. Funding for research comes from both the Funding Councils (“Quality Research” or QR funding) for blue skies research or through funding for specific research through bids to the 7 Research Councils http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/ Further information: NUS Higher Education Handbook: http://resource.nusonline.co.uk/media/resource/HEHandbookWeb.pdf NUS OfficerOnLine Higher Education Resources and Information: http://www.officeronline.co.uk/education/ Education information is designed to keep officers up to date on national developments. Information is correct at time of writing and offered in good faith.