Welsh institutions report good performance securing research council funding

The growth in research council income for higher education institutions in Wales has been greater than that for institutions in most of the rest of the UK, according to the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales’ annual report.

The council’s annual report for 2012-13, published on 8 November, compares the growth in income for Welsh institutions to institutions in the rest of the UK, excluding those in Oxford, Cambridge and London. It says that Welsh institutions experienced more growth, or a smaller decrease, in research income for most of the past few years.

In the most recent years studied, from 2010-11 to 2011-12, Welsh institutions saw a decrease in income of 3.6 per cent, compared with 4.0 per cent for other UK institutions. The year before, Welsh institutions saw an increase of 1.2 per cent while other institutions had an average decrease of 2.7 per cent. And for 2008-9 to 2009-10, Welsh institutions’ research income grew by about 3 per cent while other institutions experienced a growth of 3.1 per cent.