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Funding calculations

The majority of our funding is distributed as block grants to the institutions, allocated by formulae, which take account of various factors, including recruitment in academic subject categories, mode and level, and the amount of high quality research undertaken in the institution.

We operate three main funding methods:
  • Teaching funding method
  • Research Funding Method - QR
  • Postgraduate Research (PGR) Funding Method

The Strategic Implementation Allocations 2011/12 circular (W11/12HE), published in March 2011, sets out our overall budget distribution for the academic year 2011/12, including individual institutional allocations for teaching and research.

Strategic Implementation Allocations 2011/12

This section provides information on data and methodology used within the three funding methods above. More information on the methodology and policies about funding can be found using the links to the right.

Teaching funding

An Excel model shows how the non-quota funding methodology works within the teaching funding method:

Excel model (MS Excel spreadsheet)

Excel model spreadsheet notes

The HESA (Higher Education Statistics Agency) and LLWR (Lifelong Learning Wales Record) data used in funding allocations are described in the higher education data requirements circular (W11/05HE).

Higher education data requirements 2010/11

Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) data

Available below are algorithms relating to the extraction of such data from the 2010/11 HESA student record to be used in the calculation of the access and retention, disability, expensive subjects, priority subjects and Welsh medium premiums and the per capita funding allocations for 2012/13. The algorithms are based on a simplified version of the SAS code we use to extract the data.

Note that in order to ensure that students are counted correctly, further criteria in addition to those described in the algorithms may be applied.

Access and retention algorithm

Low participation (young full-time) postcodes eligible for access and retention funding (.txt file)

Low participation (mature full-time and all part-time) postcodes eligible for access and retention funding (.txt file)

Community First postcodes eligible for access and retention funding(.txt file)

Disability algorithm

Per capita algorithm

Expensive and priority subjects algorithm

Welsh medium algorithm

Lifelong Learning Wales Record (LLWR) data

Available below are algorithms relating to the extraction of such data from the 2010/11 LLWR record to be used in the calculation of the access and retention premium and the per capita funding allocations for 2012/13. The algorithms are based on a simplified version of the SAS code we use to extract the data.

Note that in order to ensure that students are counted correctly, further criteria in addition to those described in the algorithms may be applied.

Access and retention algorithm

Low participation (young full-time) postcodes eligible for access and retention funding (.txt file)

Low participation (mature full-time and all part-time) postcodes eligible for access and retention funding (.txt file)

Community First postcodes eligible for access and retention funding (.txt file)

Per capita algorithm

Research funding

Available below is information on the extraction and calculation of Quality Research (QR) funding and Postgraduate Research (PGR) funding.

QR funding model (2011/12 funding)

PGR funding model (2009/10 funding)

PGR algorithm

PGR UoA - ASC

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