News

Increase in grant funding for Durham

(5 March 2009)

Durham University is celebrating a £3m increase to its annual grant for teaching and research.

The Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE), which announced its yearly funding round today (Thursday March 5 2009), has awarded Durham £70.3m for the academic year 2009-10. This is an overall increase of 4.5 per cent (£3 m) on the current academic year. Funding for research stands at £25.3m – showing an increase of 5.5 per cent (£1.3m) on the current year. Teaching receives £43m, a 2.7 per cent (£1.1m) increase in funding on this year. The research funding is linked to Durham’s success in last year’s national Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), in which the University’s research activity was graded. In this, 90 per cent of Durham’s research work was found to be in the top three categories for international quality (4*, 3* and 2*). The HEFCE annual grant is a major source of funding for the University, whose additional income sources include grants from funding councils, private sector investment and philanthropic donations. The teaching grant includes an additional £281,000 for 59 additional student numbers in strategically important and vulnerable subjects, such as Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics for 2009/10. The University is guaranteed a similar increase in 2010/11. Professor Chris Higgins, Vice-Chancellor, Durham University, said: “This funding award reflects and will further enhance the excellent world-class research and teaching environment that Durham offers its students and staff. “The additional investment will also benefit the many communities we work with regionally, nationally and globally on knowledge transfer, educational and outreach initiatives and much more.”