Review of funding for Jisc projects in Wales

Consequently HEFCW will be withdrawing from Jisc any unallocated capital funding for 2010-11. Whilst HEFCW will honour any existing commitments this decision means that Welsh universities will now not be eligible to lead new capital funded innovation projects.

There are currently two calls affected by this decision:

Grant 05/10: Flexible service delivery programme: Call for projects

Grant 14/09: Managing Research Data Programme

If you have questions about whether a call that you are working on at the moment is affected by this announcement, please email funding@jisc.ac.uk

Question and Answers

1. Jisc has announced that Welsh universities can no longer bid for capital funded projects. What is capital funding?

Jisc is funded by two sets of budget one which is called core and the other called capital. Core is the recurrent Jisc budget that we receive each year, depending on our grants from the Funding Councils being confirmed; whilst capital is time-limited funding with terms and conditions attached.

Jisc’s higher education funders are the four funding councils – The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) and the Department of Employment and Learning Northern Ireland (DEL).

In recent years, both HEFCE and HEFCW have provided additional funding under their capital funding stream, to allow Jisc to invest further in ICT for education and research.

2. Why has this decision been made?

HEFCW’s rationale for withdrawing the uncommitted funding for the year between April 2010 and March 2011 is based on the current financial climate and funding pressures. 

Given the financial pressure facing the sector, they have taken a decision that it would be better to distribute the money across the sector, rather than allocating it to a small number of institutions. 

HEFCW would like to use it to further their technology-enhanced learning strategy, but will not be in a position to identify how best to do this until after the review of the strategy takes place in 2010/11, and after the review of Jisc’s Building Capacity Programme. 

3. Is this announcement only for Welsh university-led projects rather than for those in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland?

Yes. Capital-funded bids led by English universities are unaffected. Scotland and Northern Ireland are not eligible to lead capital-funded bids.

 4. Which Jisc funding calls are affected?

HEFCW has reviewed the funding available for the 2010-11 financial year for this activity and will honour any existing commitments.  However, it wishes to withdraw from any recent or new capital funding calls issued by Jisc.

There are currently two calls affected:

Flexible service delivery programme call for projects
Managing Research Data Programme call

The decision also applies to all capital-funded calls in the future.

Welsh universities and colleges can continue to bid in response to recurrent/core-funded innovation programmes in the usual way, alongside the rest of the UK.

Each call issued will clearly indicate who is eligible to bid.

5. What happens if I’m in the middle of a Jisc-funded project at a Welsh university?

You can continue with your current project.  HEFCW will honour any existing commitments.

6. How do I know if the funding call I am currently responding to is from capital funding?

The capital funded calls that have already been announced and which are open to institutions at present which are affected by this announcement are:

7. I am currently working on a Jisc capital funded bid named in this announcement, should I continue with the work?

It is advisable that you cease working on the bid as there is no longer funding available from HEFCW for this activity. 
Welsh universities can still participate as project partners in capital-funded bids led by English universities, but are no longer eligible to lead a bid.

8. I have already submitted a bid to Jisc for a capital funded call - what will happen to this bid?

The evaluation process will be undertaken as usual. Any bids from Welsh universities that are recommended for funding by the evaluation panel will be forwarded to HEFCW who will make the final decision on whether the project will be funded.

9. I have a specific question that isn’t answered. How can I find out the answer?

If you have questions about whether a bid to a call you are working on at the moment is affected by this announcement, please email funding@jisc.ac.uk and a member of the Jisc team will aim to respond to your question directly or post the answer on this list within 24 hours.

If your question relates to HEFCW’s decision, please address your enquiry to Cliona O’Neill at HEFCW at Cliona.ONeill@hefcw.ac.uk