Northern Ireland takes over Open University funding

Responsibility for the block grant to the Open University’s operations in Northern Ireland is to shift from the Higher Education Funding Council for England to Northern Ireland's government.

The £4 million a year grant was previously allocated by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in London through HEFCE. As such, it was something of an anomaly on HEFCE’s books as funding for the Open University in Scotland and Wales had previously been devolved.

For Northern Ireland, the money will now be allocated from BIS to Northern Ireland’s Department for Employment and Learning. The funding is ring-fenced for the 2013-14 and 2014-15 academic years but, from 2015-16, all higher education institutions in Northern Ireland will be funded from the resources made available to the department in the next spending review.