Funding cuts for PhDs and Masters

27 July 2011 Last updated at 16:34 GMT By Katherine Sellgren BBC News education reporter The research councils say tough financial decisions are necessary Hundreds of funded PhD and Masters places have been scrapped, figures obtained by Labour indicate.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is cutting the number of PhDs it funds by 1,002 from 2,902 in 2010-11 to 1,900 in 2011-12.

Similarly, the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) is cutting funded Masters courses from 607 to 490.

The figures were given in response to a parliamentary question by shadow universities minister Gareth Thomas.

The data shows the National Environmental Research Council (NERC) will no longer provide funding for the 285 Masters places it funded in 2010-11.

However, it will increase the number of funded PhD places by five from 325 in 2010-11 to 330 in 2011-12.

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is also reducing its PhD places, from 730 to 660 over the same period.

'Devastating'

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) is cutting PhD places from 555 in 2010-11 to 530 in 2011-12, but it is maintaining funded Masters places at 110.

Mr Thomas said: "These cuts in PhD and Masters places will have a devastating and profound impact on the range, depth and quality of advanced research, innovation and study taking place in Britain's universities.

"These cuts are a direct result of the government making the wrong choices on university and science funding and will mean the brightest and best will be tempted to go abroad just when we need their groundbreaking research to help foster innovation and fund new economic growth.

"These cuts come on top of university teaching funding having been axed by 80%, investment in world class research facilities set to drop by 40% and a 10% real terms drop in science funding all over the next three years."

A spokeswoman from the EPSRC said the council had stopped funding project studentships.

"We did this in order to prioritise the quality of the PhD experience in a broader environment, mainly through greater cohort-based training as they are particularly sought after by academia and business due to their employability, quality and potential impact.

"Tough financial choices means the current level of students supported is not sustainable."

Resources cut

A spokeswoman from the ESRC said the funding of 730 PhD places in 2010-11 was "an all-time high", with the council funding on average 600 students.

She added: "It is true that we are reducing the numbers, but 600 a year is a fairly substantial number and we have had to think hard about the number of studentships we are able to maintain when resources are being cut."

A spokesman for the BBSRC said the reduction in funded PhD places meant the council would be providing a "higher level of research support costs" for students.

The NERC said: "Masters training remains important for the UK - as a stepping stone into a research career, for discipline-hopping and in providing key skills for the economy.

"However it is increasingly funded by users, and by students themselves as an investment in their careers, and NERC plays only a small role in the wider masters training landscape.

"Future postgraduate support beyond 2010-11 will be dependent on a review of our postgraduate training mechanisms."

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'Funding mistakes' over academies

16 June 2011 Last updated at 17:21 GMT By Angela Harrison Education correspondent, BBC News Michael Gove says the government inherited a very complicated system Some new academy schools in England have been given too much money by central government and face having it "clawed back".

Education Secretary Michael Gove says mistakes have been made by local authorities.

Hampshire Council says its academies have been given an extra ?300 per pupil even though it followed set procedures.

The government wants all state-funded schools to become academies, which are outside of council control.

Currently about one out of every six seconary schools in England is an academy.

They are meant to be funded on the same level as other state schools, but with the money coming directly from central government rather than via councils.

In addition, they are given an amount of money that would previously have been spent by their local council on their behalf to provide services such as those for children with special educational needs.

To determine the level of funding they receive, councils have to tell central government how much they spend per pupil on such services in their area.

It is in this reporting that the government says errors have been made, but councils dispute this.

'Flawed system'

Mr Gove told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "There have been individual mistakes made by local authorities in the calculation of their Section 251 returns."

Asked whether officials in the Department for Education had been responsible for any of the mistakes, he replied: "Not that I am aware of."

Mr Gove said the government had been working with a "flawed" system inherited from the previous Labour government.

"There is a problem with the financing of all schools because of the funding mechanism that was designed by the last government," he said.

Officials at the Department for Education said there had been a "small number of cases" where mistakes had been made by local authorities, which could have led to academies being over- or under-funded.

"We don't think this is a big problem for the vast number of authorities," a spokesman said.

Decisions on whether to "claw back" money that had been overpaid would take into account issues such as the scale of the error and the timing, he said.

Continue reading the main story

It raises a simple question: does the secretary of state have a grip on his budget? ”

End Quote Andy Burnham Shadow education secretary He said mistakes along these lines had happened in previous years.

"The government has said many times that the system is unfair and unclear, that is why we're proposing changes to the school funding formula," he added.

The chairman of the Local Government Association's children and young people board, Baroness Ritchie, said: "This has arisen because the government has misinterpreted council education expenditure returns for purposes for which they were not intended in the way that it calculates the top-up grant for academies.

"We have made it clear that school choice is something that councils support, but whatever you think of academies, they should be funded on the same basis as other schools."

'Double-counting'

Hampshire County Council says it did what it was expected to - but has now found that its secondary school academies have been allocated an extra ?300 per pupil.

That can amount to as much as ?300,000 for a big secondary academy.

Councillor Roy Perry, Hampshire County Council's deputy leader and executive lead member for children's services, said: "Hampshire County Council has followed standard accounting and reporting procedures."

In a statement, he said the process used by the government "effectively double-counted and inflated the calculation for Hampshire secondary academies by some ?300 per pupil per year".

"Once this issue was identified we took steps to advise schools and also raised this as an issue with the DfE. We are committed to working closely with the Department for Education and the Hampshire family of schools in the best interests of Hampshire."

News of the problems emerged as Mr Gove announced 200 under-performing primary schools would be closed next year and converted to academies, under the wing of top schools.

Labour then tabled an emergency question in the House of Commons on the issue of the mistakes and academy funding.

Its education spokesman, Andy Burnham, said: "It raises a simple question: does the secretary of state have a grip on his budget?

"On the day that serious questions are being asked about whether he has a properly funded plan to back up the rapid expansion of his academy programme, only this secretary of state could be in Birmingham announcing a further major expansion of it."

Mr Burnham added: "Will the minister tell the House how many schools have been over-funded and what is the total amount is that has been paid in error?"

Schools minister Nick Gibb told MPs the government was taking action to sort out problems left by Labour.

At the weekend it emerged that the government was going to "reconsider" an element of its local education funding relating to academies, following a legal challenge by 26 councils.

The councils have begun a judicial review of the decision to deduct ?148m from their education budgets.

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