Response

OfS consultation on recurrent funding 2021-22

30 Apr 2021

OfS consulted on the approach to recurrent funding for 2021-22 in the light of the government’s statutory guidance letter and the condition of grant applied by the Secretary of State on the Office for Students. The statutory guidance letter set out the funds available for financial year 2021-22 and the related funding policies and priorities it wishes us to implement.

MillionPlus disagrees with the proposal to split price group C1 in order to implement a reduction of 50 per cent to the high-cost subject funding allocated to the subjects listed above. There is a clear rationale for maintaining funding across all four subject areas. Under these proposals, providers will be faced with a reduced unit of resource for students in these subjects without any direct means to restore this level of investment. Whilst it is acknowledged that the Office for Students is following guidance from the Government, MillionPlus believes this may be short-sighted.

There is a strategic importance to investing in a wide range of subjects and disciplines in higher education. Perhaps most strikingly, there is an economic imperative to invest in creative arts education. There are two million jobs in the creative industries at present, and the level of job creation is double the rate of the rest of the economy.

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