Court Circular

Last Friday we were delighted to welcome over 70 delegates to the first conference for some years for deputy FDs. It was great to see so many familiar faces and many new ones and we hope the delegates made the most of the day with a wide variety of sessions. During one session we were asked how many women FDs there are in the sector. Well, a quick count up reveals that of 162 member institutions, 43 have a woman FD. We'll leave that thought with you as a taster for some interesting stats next week that will include an analysis of changes of FD over the past 9 years, including the fact that there have been over 120 changes in over 100 institutions. How do we keep up?

An apology: Sorry to those who struggled to get hold of Harriet's comprehensive New Year Tax round-up last week as we got the link wrong. If you haven't read it yet you can download it here.

Update on VAT cost-sharing exemption

David Willetts delivered a very upbeat speech at the Politeia Winter Address last Thursday. According to Willetts, “our universities are precious national institutions which the Government wants to see well supported. Reducing the costs universities face will enable them to focus more of their resources on world-class teaching and research".

He also referred to the implementation of the cost sharing exemption for VAT as “an agreement reached with Her Majesty’s Treasury (HMT) will enable universities to become more efficient through closer collaboration” , and confirmed that he had written to our UUK to “give…the good news about the Treasury’s agreement to exempt shared services from VAT. The Treasury has confirmed that, under the principle of direct effect, universities can immediately benefit from this decision, and I know it will be welcomed by institutions." 

Whilst we at BUFDG did welcome the news when it was released by HMT in early December, we hope that our readership remain of the opinion that the adoption of the EU Law into UK Law is only the starting point. We are still awaiting the official guidance on implementation, and rushing ahead would be inadvisable without this. Further, although HMT have undoubtedly done a good job in making the exemption as useful as possible to Universities and Charities, implementation is far from straightforward. Sharing services requires a significant commitment by all the collaborators and significant upfront investment, and given the legislation was written in the 1970’s for a different era, fitting within will also be an effort, and may be impossible for those research intensive institutions.

Mr Willetts also went on to announce HEFCE’s review of philanthropy and the department’s intentions to reduce the cost of data collection. The neatly titled Information Landscape Project will explore what information is already collected, what is actually needed and why. The project hopes to identify any 'quick wins' for easing the burden on universities, as well as publishing a road map for implementing a simpler model overall." 

His final piece was on a report which highlights not just the importance of international students to the UK but the benefits that those students enjoy. It shows that, three years after graduating, more than four-fifths of international students feel that their UK degree was worth the financial investment. Their skills are in high demand, and they achieve markedly higher average salaries in their home countries than compatriots who were educated domestically. At the same time, the great majority of our international graduates intend to retain links to their UK universities and to professional organisations within the UK.

HEFCE news

31^st January deadlines to be aware of:

• English institutions that are exempt charities should update their charity information gateway pages.
• Latest date for institutions to submit Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) return.

Delays to the annual grant letter may be down to government plans to announce an easing of the AAB rules that are to introduce competition for students between institutions, the Times Higher reports. A number of university groups have called for the government to reduce the threshold, and it has since been suggested that the government, which has indicated a desire to extend the policy in future years, is planning to lower the grade limit to ABB in 2013-14.

HEFCE published a letter on the 13^th January announcing an adjustment to the RCIF2 payment profile with funding being brought forward from 2012-13 to 2011-12. This adjustment is in line with the government’s plans to stimulate economic growth, and as such £76 million will be handed out in January 2012 to those universities and colleges that have met the requirements of the second Capital Investment Framework.

And finally, you may be aware of the HEFCE commissioned work to help the sector measure scope 3 carbon emissions. The work was commissioned under 3 themes: Procurement (supply chain), Transport and Water & Waste. The output from this work can be found here.

'No' to for-profit providers?

The Telegraph ran an article on Monday which disclosed that the government was planning to postpone its Higher Education bill indefinitely, saying it is now "unlikely to be published before 2015". All the changes to Higher Education under this government have so far been forced through without any additions to primary legislation, but the HE bill would have allowed more substantial changes including the extending of full student loans to those attending for-profit universities, putting them on an equal funding footing with the existing publicly-funded non-profits, and potentially opening up the possiblity of for-profit providers - perhaps from the US - taking over struggling UK HEIs. 

However it has so far proved more troubling for policy-makers than simply raising the tuition cap or changing the funding formula, after it became apparent there would be serious challenges in putting existing HEIs and new for-profits on a level regulatory playing field. There have also been concerns that UK charity law would make university failure and takeover - a key part of the planned 'market' reforms - a difficult proposition. It appears that these concerns have now made their way to the upper echelons of the government, as the Telegraph reports that a 'Whitehall Insider' has shared that "The Liberal Democrats were increasingly opposed to further reforms to universities after the recent decision to increase fees... but David Cameron was also unimpressed by the recommendations so the whole thing is now off the table". The Guardian believes that the matter is not yet settled, and reports Universities Minister David Willetts as saying "There's going to be a further discussion in cabinet in the next couple of weeks. There's no final decision either way yet".

Both the UCU and NUS have welcomed the news, after sharing their concerns that all taxpayer university funding should go to the best possible provision for students, rather than as profits to shareholders. They were also worried about the record of for-profits in the US in mis-selling qualifications to vulnerable students. However they both also stressed that the sector should remain vigilant in case the postponing of the bill simply meant that "many of the most damaging proposals contained in the government's white paper can now happen under the radar, without scrutiny from either the Commons or the Lords". 

Decline in MBA applications

Business schools are facing a 10-15% fall in applications for MBA programmes, new figures released by the Financial Times suggest. The paper reports that, of the 16 full-time MBA programmes’ participating in its 2012 rankings, enrolment of overseas students is down 10% on this time last year. The fall is likely to be partly due to the withdrawal of the automatic right for MBA graduates to remain in the UK to work for two years after the end of their course, a change that is part of wider reforms to immigration controls by the government. The Judge Business School at the University of Cambridge said it was braced for a fall in the number of full-time students enrolled on its courses, while Stephen Chadwick, full-time MBA programme director at the top-ranked London Business School, told the FT that applications from the US and India were expected to fall this year. The financial impact of this trend could be severe if it continues, and while there is no data relating to MBA programmes specifically, research by the UK’s Association of Business Schools says that these institutions generate £2 billion for the economy.

But Cranfield University has proved an inspiration for the universities minister, David Willetts, who recently cited it as a possible model for a new breed of university – one dedicated to science and dominated by postgraduates. His vision, which we reported earlier this month, was of new partnerships between universities and business, to set up institutions that would help to make the UK the "best place in the world to do science". Sir John O'Reilly, Cranfield's vice chancellor, says the ideas of boosting science and tapping business potential are good, but that Willetts's proposals are different from the Cranfield model because they carry no government cash. "We get funding – nowhere near the same as traditional universities, but without that it would be a very steep hill to climb".

Procurement links

The latest Science Warehouse procurement bulletin is available to view on their website. Among other things it has an interesting article on procurement systems, which draws conclusions from a survey done by Edbury Daley that has found that "investment in enabling IT is not creating enough value – and not in balance with the need for on-going skills development". As a result, Science Warehouse say that "effective spend control and management is a vital first step towards creating the data and the headroom to increase the value that procurement can deliver to the organisation". 

White Paper Conferences are hosting three events across the country on 'Awarding Public Contracts Lawfully and Skillfully within the Procurement Rules'. The events feature some top UK procurement lawyers, as well as policy-makers and procurement professionals, and look to answer '18  Thorny Public Procurement' questions over the course of the day. The three events are in Belfast on the 16th March, and Edinburgh and London on the 22nd. The price is £199.  

On a similar note, Eversheds are running a series of Procurement Update seminars during February and March at various locations across the country. Click for more details. 

Time for universities to collaborate on access?

A report due out in the next couple of months is set to address the question of how universities can continue to work together with schools and colleges to ensure anyone with the potential to go to university is not put off by the new fees regime. Alan Milburn’s report on social mobility will say that in addition to the need to raise attainment levels at 16-18, the key for universities to be successful at widening participation will be to share information on what works across the sector. It is vital that universities get better at learning from each other to find the best ways to widen participation quickly, effectively and continuously. Reports from OFFA show that in 2009-10 English universities and colleges spent a record £395 million on access measures. This includes £355 million on bursaries and scholarships for lower income students and those from other under-represented groups, along with £38 million on outreach activities. Resources were also given to a number of other activities, including widening participation. Now that universities are assigned individual bursaries it is even more important that universities work together to successfully get people to university and to ensure that students have every possible opportunity to successfully complete their degree. Next month’s Universities UK, NUS and Guild HE event, ‘Evaluation and impact of access and outreach activities’ will address just these issues. 

Bits & Bobs

• We've received counsel opinion on overseas recruitment agents in relation to the place of supply rules and the reverse charge. If you've been following this the chances are Harriet will have already sent you the note, but if you haven't received it yet you can download it from the Info-Bank. 

• The discussion boards continue to be active, with discussions in the last 24 hours on managing healthcare benefits for staff, Language Schools and VAT, and tenders for student accommodation internet provision. Remember you can update your preferences to receive discussion board notifications by going to your 'my account' page. 

• According to JISC, institutions need strategies that enable them to adapt rapidly to any change caused by external factors such as funding cuts, changing government requirements, changing student expectations, increased competition and new developments in information and communications technology. They have therefore developed a strategy infoKit that universities can implement to support agility and the development of efficient business processes.

• Last but not least, this week’s job of the week is the Senior Contract Accounts Manager position at LSE. However it is worth checking all of our other advertised vacancies by going to our jobs page.