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Introduction - Resources 2004/05

This publication is one of four reference volumes published annually by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA). HESA is a company limited by guarantee, and is owned by the United Kingdom (UK) higher education sector through the representative bodies Universities UK and the Standing Conference of Principals. HESA collects data from publicly-funded higher education institutions (HEIs) in the UK on behalf of funding bodies and government departments, in a framework underpinned by legislation.

This volume brings together information about the finances and the staff of HEIs during the academic year 2004/05 that is, the period 1 August 2004 to 31 July 2005. It covers data supplied by 168 HEIs (131 in England, 131 in Wales, 20 in Scotland, 4 in Northern Ireland). The data collection procedure is uniform across all institutions, regardless of size, nature and location. Tabulations are included that record and analyse income and expenditure, and the characteristics of staff, at the sector level in the printed volume, and on the CD also at the institutional level.

The other reference volumes published by HESA are as follows.

Students in Higher Education Institutions. This volume draws on HESA’s collection of data about students in HEIs. It includes information at the institutional level about entry qualifications, programmes taken and outcomes, together with background variables such as age, gender, ethnicity and disability. Data on HE provision in further education colleges (FECs) is not included in this volume except for students funded indirectly through HEIs, in which case it is reported by the HEI through which funding passes.

Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education. TThis volume draws on the Destinations of Leavers from HE (DLHE) survey and provides information about patterns of employment and further study or training at a point about six months after completion. DLHE covers leavers from part-time as well as full-time programmes.

Higher Education Statistics for the United Kingdom. This is the only HESA reference volume that currently falls within the National Statistics framework, and it accordingly carries the National Statistics logo as well as that of HESA. It provides an overview of higher education in the UK from a statistical perspective, including statistics about applications, participation, institutional finance, staffing, student awards and loans. To achieve this broad coverage, this volume draws on data collected by other bodies as well as HESA, and in particular includes some information about directly funded HE provision in FECs.

HESA also publishes annually two Statistical First Releases within the National Statistics framework; the Higher Education Management Statistics at institutional level (on CD) and detailed data for institutional planning purposes on CD (HE Planning Plus and HE Finance Plus). Research Datapacks dealing with specific issues are produced on an occasional basis on CD. The HESA Information Provision Service exists to meet more specialist needs of data users on a bespoke basis.

Data protection

In order to comply with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Human Rights Act 1998, HESA implements a strategy in published and released tabulations designed to minimise the risk of disclosure of personal information about any individual. The tabulations in this volume are derived from the HESA non-statutory populations2 and may differ slightly from those published by related statutory bodies or in National Statistics publications. This strategy involves rounding all numbers to the nearest multiple of 5. A summary of this strategy is as follows:

  1. 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0
  2. All other numbers are rounded to the nearest multiple of 5.

So for example 3 is represented as 5, 22 is represented as 20, 3286 is represented as 3285 while 0, 20, 55, 3510 remain unchanged.

This rounding strategy is also applied to total numbers; the consequence of this is that the sum of numbers in each row or column rarely matches the total shown precisely. Note that subject level data calculated by apportionment is also rounded in accordance with this strategy.

Average values, proportions and FTE values prepared by HESA are not usually affected by the above strategy, and are calculated on precise raw numbers.

Percentages calculated on populations which contain 52 or fewer individuals are suppressed and represented as '..' as are averages based on populations of 7 or fewer.

Format of publications

Commencing with the 2002/03 cycle of publications, HESA reference volumes comprise a relatively slim printed volume containing only a limited range of tables, together with a CD, which contains all the remaining data familiar to users from earlier years, supplemented with additional and more detailed tables. The tables on the CD are in Microsoft® Excel 2000 format. This has the further benefit of allowing users to select data from the tables and manipulate how it is displayed. However, arithmetical manipulations should be carried out with caution because of the effect of the rounding strategy described above.

Finance data

This commentary draws attention to some of the headline figures and key points that emerge from the main tables. The information is displayed graphically where appropriate. It should be noted that where comparisons are made between the latest financial year and a previous year, the figures for the previous year are as re-stated in the most recent financial statements available; any exceptions are noted explicitly. They are not therefore necessarily reconcilable with figures for that year published in previous HESA volumes. However, it is understood that all such figures can be reconciled to the published accounts of the institutions.

Because of rounding, published totals in finance tables may differ from the sum of the published figures that contribute to them.

Summary of key points

Balance sheet

Tangible assets have increased by £1,698 million (9.6%).

There has been an increase of £422 million in short-term borrowing but a decrease of £106 million in short-term investments.

Income and expenditure

Income during the year amounted to £18.0 billion.

The surplus of income over expenditure was £213 million.

Sources of income

Funding council grants increased by £444 million (6.8%).

The amount of income received from tuition fees and education grants & contracts increased by 5.9%. EU domiciled students (including UK domiciled students) charged full-time HE course standard fees accounted for 32.8% of income from those sources.

Research councils provided 32.1% of research grants & contracts, the largest share of the total.

Expenditure

The £1,121 million (6.7%) rise in total expenditure was the result of broadly similar percentage rises in each of staff costs (£627 million), other operating expenses (£402 million) and interest payable, but there was a larger percentage increase of 9.8% (£78 million) in depreciation.

Balance sheet

A comparison of the HE sector’s balance sheet at 31 July 2005 with that at 31 July 2004 shows a £422 million increase in short-term creditors while amounts due after more than one year have increased by £184 million. There was an increase of £206 million in debtors.

The value of tangible assets has increased by £1,698 million (9.6%), and endowment assets have increased by £483 million (17.9%). Endowments (specific and general) have also increased by £483 million from last year, compared with an increase of £181 million from 2003 to 2004.

Table A - Balance sheet(#5)
  Balance (£ thousands) as at 31 July
  2005 2004 Change % change
Fixed assets
Tangible assets 19330175 17632132 1698043 9.6%
Investments 962408 838439 123969 14.8%
Total 20292583 18470571 1822012 9.9%
Endowment assets 3186382 2703377 483005 17.9%
Current assets
Stock 51515 52536 -1021 -1.9%
Debtors 2289845 2083653 206192 9.9%
Investments 1729080 1834841 -105761 -5.8%
Cash at bank & in hand 1131297 962443 168854 17.5%
Total 5201737 4933473 268264 5.4%
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 4235496 3813275 422221 11.1%
Net current assets 966241 1120198 -153957 -13.7%
Total assets less current liabilities 24445206 22294146 2151060 9.6%
Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year 3391913 3207784 184129 5.7%
Provisions for liabilities & charges 572604 542238 30366 5.6%
Net Assets 20480689 18544124 1936565 10.4%
Deferred capital grants 6120792 5376628 744164 13.8%
Endowments
Specific 2699709 2262216 437493 19.3%
General 487889 442399 45490 10.3%
Total 3187598 2704615 482983 17.9%
Reserves 11172299 10462881 709418 6.8%
Total 20480689 18544124 1936565 10.4%
# see relevant footnote in Notes to tables.

Income and expenditure

The income of the HE sector totalled £18.0 billion during the financial year to 31 July 2005; this compares with £16.9 billion for the previous year. The surplus of income over expenditure decreased from £237 million in 2003/04 to £213 million in 2004/05.

Table B - Total income and expenditure, financial years 2004/05 and 2003/04(#5)
      (£ thousands)
  2004/05 2003/04 % change
Income 17993162 16896211 6.5%
Expenditure 17779680 16659096 6.7%
Surplus/deficit(#6) 213482 237115 -10.0%
Surplus/deficit(#6) as percentage of income 1.2% 1.4%  
# see relevant footnote in Notes to tables.

To provide the context for these figures, Chart 1 shows the HE sector’s surplus/deficit (re-based and re-calculated as appropriate) for each of the years for which HESA now has data. These are cash figures to which no deflator has been applied. Data were returned to HESA for financial year 1993/94 onwards; figures for these financial years are set out in earlier editions of this volume.

Surplus/deficit of income over expenditure, 1993/94 to 2004/05

The number of institutions reporting a surplus or breakeven was 124 out of 168 in 2004/05, compared with 130 out of 171 in 2003/04. Deficits in both financial years were reported by 23 institutions.

The final table in this section aggregates figures for institutions funded by each of the four UK countries’ funding councils. It should be noted that in this and other tables, The Open University is counted as an institution based in England, although its funding now includes contributions from other administrations.

Table C - Income and expenditure by UK country(#5)
                  (£  thousands)
  Financial Year 2004/05     Financial Year 2003/04
Location of Institution Income Expenditure Surplus/ deficit(#6) % of income   Income Expenditure Surplus/ deficit(#6) % of income
England 14821360 14656022 165338 1.1%   13920045 13716895 203150 1.5%
Wales 853126 834498 18628 2.2%   800653 788019 12634 1.6%
Scotland 1936344 1919272 17072 0.9%   1821906 1814032 7874 0.4%
Northern Ireland 382332 369888 12444 3.3%   353607 340150 13457 3.8%
Total 17993162 17779680 213482 1.2%   16896211 16659096 237115 1.4%
# see relevant footnote in Notes to tables.

Income

The table and chart below summarise institutions’ sources of income in terms of proportions contributed by and the growth or otherwise of each source over time.

Table D - Sources of income(#5)
    (£ thousands)
  2004/05 2003/04 % change
Funding council grants 6967346 6522935 6.8%
Tuition fees & education grants & contracts 4335652 4094019 5.9%
Research grants & contracts 2883900 2724924 5.8%
Other income 3506749 3312624 5.9%
Endowment & investment income 299515 241709 23.9%
Total income 17993162 16896211 6.5%
# see relevant footnote in Notes to tables.

Sources of income 2000/01 to 2004/05

Funding council grants represent a 38.7% proportion of total income. Tuition fees & education grants & contracts represent a 24.1% proportion of total income. These proportions are very close to those for 2003/04. Previous years’ figures are those reported in the re-stated financial statements.

Funding council grants

Institutional funds for academic and other purposes are allocated primarily by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW), the Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council (SFC) [formerly the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council (SHEFC), now merged with the former Scottish Further Education Funding Council (SFEFC) and known as the Scottish Funding Council] and by the Department for Employment and Learning for Northern Ireland (DELNI) acting as a funding agency for the four Northern Ireland higher education institutions. Some funds are also provided in England by the Department of Health (DH) and the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) [formerly the Teacher Training Agency (TTA)]. In relation to some categories of FE teaching funding comes from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in England and Education and Training Wales (ELWa) [now absorbed into the National Assembly for Wales (NAW)]. In Scotland it is impossible to disaggregate the funding of FE teaching.

Table E - Breakdown of funding council grants 2004/05
    (£ thousands)
    % of total
HE Provision(#7)
Recurrent - teaching 4775433 68.5%
Recurrent - research 1358391 19.5%
Recurrent - other (inc. special funding) 531019 7.6%
Release of deferred capital grants - buildings 99461 1.4%
Release of deferred capital grants - equipment 92201 1.3%
FE provision(#8) 110841 1.6%
Total funding council grants 6967346 100.0%
# see relevant footnote in Notes to tables.

Tuition fees and education grants and contracts

The total income for tuition fees & education grants & contracts increased by 5.9% this year to £4.34 billion from £4.09 billion in 2003/04. Income from overseas (non-EC) students provided 32.2% of income in this category.

Table F - Income from tuition fees and education grants and contracts 2004/05
    (£ thousands)
    % of total
HE course fees
Full-time UK & EC domiciled students charged standard fees 1420081 32.8%
Full-time UK & EC domiciled students charged non-standard fees 680775 15.7%
Part-time HE course fees 462785 10.7%
Overseas (Non-EC) 1395773 32.2%
Sub-total HE course fees 3959414 91.3%
Non-credit-bearing course fees 290943 6.7%
FE course fees 20305 0.5%
Research training support grants 64990 1.5%
Total tuition fees & education grants & contracts 4335652 100.0%

Research grants and contracts

Research grants & contracts increased by 5.8% this year to £2.88 billion from £2.72 billion in 2003/04. The Office of Science and Technology (OST) research councils continue to be the largest providers by representing a 32.1% proportion of total research grants & contracts income.

Table G - Income from research grants and contracts 2004/05
    (£ thousands)
    % of total
OST research councils 926294 32.1%
UK based charities 700052 24.3%
UK central government bodies, local, health & hospital authorities 565861 19.6%
UK industry, commerce & public corps 243405 8.4%
EU government bodies 202262 7.0%
EU other 34251 1.2%
Other overseas 151251 5.2%
Other sources 60524 2.1%
Total research grants & contracts 2883900 100.0%

Other income

Income in this category increased by 5.9% this year to £3.51 billion from £3.31 billion in 2003/04. The breakdown in Table H has been simplified by comparison with previous years.

Table H - Other income 2004/05
    (£  thousands)
    % of total
Other services rendered
  UK central government bodies, local authorities, health & hospital authorities, EU government bodies 411254 11.7%
  Other 596430 17.0%
  Sub-total other services rendered 1007684 28.7%
Residences & catering operations 1102865 31.4%
Grants from local authorities 2213 0.1%
Income from health & hospital authorities 320279 9.1%
Released from deferred capital grants 74978 2.1%
Income from intellectual property rights 28517 0.8%
Other operating income 970213 27.7%
Total other income 3506749 100.0%

Expenditure

The 6.7% (£1,121 million) rise in expenditure to £17.8 billion as shown in Table I did not vary greatly as a percentage under each heading, except that there was a greater increase in depreciation.

Table I - Expenditure, financial years ending 2004/05 and 2003/04(#5)
    (£ thousands)
  2004/05 2003/04 % change
Staff costs 10377331 9749960 6.4%
Other operating expenses 6317040 5915044 6.8%
Depreciation 870393 792784 9.8%
Interest payable 214916 201308 6.8%
Total 17779680 16659096 6.7%
# see relevant footnote in Notes to tables.

The percentage distribution of expenditure by activity within the total as shown in Table J has changed little from the previous year. Academic departments represent a 41.9% proportion of total expenditure and residences & catering operations represent a proportion of just 5.7%.

Table J - Distribution of expenditure by activity 2004/05
    (£ thousands)
    % of total
Academic departments 7446711 41.9%
Academic services 1343401 7.6%
Administrative & central services 2383764 13.4%
Premises 1951398 11.0%
Residences & catering operations 1017147 5.7%
Research grants & contracts 2455358 13.8%
Other expenditure 1181901 6.6%
Total expenditure 17779680 100.0%

The clinical medicine cost centre and business & management studies cost centre continue to have the largest share of total expenditure on academic departments with 10.0% and 9.6% respectively, spending £742 million and £717 million in 2004/05. The social studies cost centre and nursing & paramedical studies cost centre have a 7.7% and 6.9% share of total expenditure respectively. They spent £571 million and £511 million in 2004/05. These numbers are derived from the Total UK row of Table 2d.

Staff data

For the 2003/04 data collection, HESA replaced three separate staff records (the Individualised Staff Record (ISR), the Aggregate Staff Record (ASR), and the New Aggregate Staff Record (NASR)) with a single new collection, the New Individualised Staff Record (NISR); the word ‘New’ will be dropped once there is no risk of confusion. The 2004/05 data collection is accordingly the second collection using NISR.

As its name indicates, NISR is an individualised record. It covers all academic and non-academic staff who have a contract of employment with a higher education institution (HEI) in the UK, or for whom the HEI is liable to pay Class 1 National Insurance contributions. Other staff, such as those employed under consultancy contracts, or on the basis of payment of fees for services but without a contract of employment, are not included in the record. This is a major change from ISR which covered only staff with at least a 25% teaching and/or research commitment. The data previously collected on all academic staff activity by cost centre through ASR, and the equal opportunities monitoring data previously collected at an aggregate level on all staff through NASR, can broadly speaking be derived from NISR because of its full coverage, and this has made it possible to discontinue the use of separate returns to provide that information.

Within this record, staff designated as ‘academic’ include academic professionals who are responsible for preparing, directing and undertaking academic teaching and research within HE institutions and also medical practitioners, dentists, veterinarians and other health care professionals who undertake lecturing or research activities. By custom and practice, a small number of other staff who do not have direct responsibility for the delivery of either teaching or research, including some institutional officers, are also designated as ‘academic’. All other staff in HEIs are designated as ‘non-academic’, and are grouped in twelve categories. In some tabulations these are combined into three broad-brush groups.

The amount of information collected on individual members of staff depends on the staff category into which they fall. Academic staff are recruited within a national, or indeed international, market, but one that is specialised by subject area. It is of value to be able to identify patterns of career progression as staff move from institution to institution, and to compare staffing resources with teaching and research commitments and funding streams. For such staff, the full record is collected. By contrast, for clerical, secretarial and manual staff, recruitment is from the labour market local to each institution. Although the individual institution may need to monitor its staffing position in considerable detail, the national data requirement is very limited and is focused mainly on equal opportunities monitoring. For staff in these categories, the data collection is limited to a subset of the fields in the full record.

A key feature of the new HESA Individualised Staff Record is the format of collection. For the first time data can be analysed in terms of both people and employment contracts. The record consists of two tables. The person table contains one record for each person employed by an institution during the reporting period and contains attributes of the individual such as birth date, gender and ethnicity. Each person's employment with an institution is governed by one or more legally-binding contracts and each contract that exists is recorded on the contract table. If a person has a single contract with the institution there will be one record on the person table and one record on the contract table. If a person has three contracts with an institution there will be one record on the person table and three records on the contract table.

The new HESA Individualised Staff Record has introduced some definitional changes and refinements relative to previous collections, and figures derived from the staff record from 2003/04 onwards are seldom exactly comparable with those for previous years. Three particular changes need mention. First, published figures now report staff with contracts active at 1 December, rather than reporting, as hitherto, the session population; this change is intended to avoid the over-counting, particularly of staff employed for a short period, inherent in the previous method. Secondly, academic staff are no longer categorised as clinical/non-clinical, so it is not possible to produce tabulations limited to non-clinical staff. Thirdly, tabulations will for the future generally include staff who are not wholly institutionally financed; in this volume a number of introductory tables have been produced both on this basis and on the previous basis limited to wholly institutionally-financed staff, so as to facilitate comparison with earlier years.

In addition, there are a number of transient effects due to the phasing-in of the full NISR collection. For 2003/04, institutions were not required to return data on ‘atypical’ staff. These are, broadly speaking, staff on contracts that qualify them for inclusion in NISR, but are not on a full-time or proportionate part-time basis. Such staff may be found throughout the sector, but form an important component of the total staffing in subject areas such as performing arts and fine art. Data on atypical staff were collected for the first time for 2004/05, and in order to make it possible to present this material, some of the tables and charts in this 2004/05 volume have been enhanced by comparison with 2003/04. However, information on staff other than atypicals is comparable with that for 2003/04. Also, there are some fields in the record where the exact definition of what is to be collected is still under discussion, and data from these fields is accordingly not yet available.

Analysis by staff grade is meaningful only where institutions have reported their staff within nationally recognised grade structures, or within internal grade structures that facilitate discrimination on a similar basis. Several institutions, including some large post-1992 universities, report their staff on a single grade structure lacking a separate category for the ‘Professor’ grade. Where this happens, Professors cannot be distinguished from staff on the Senior Lecturer (pre-1992) or Principal Lecturer (post-1992) grade, leading to Professors being zero-counted for those institutions and under-counted for the sector as a whole. This under-counting limits the scope of comparative analyses of the proportion of Professors within particular subject areas, by cost centres, by gender, and so on.

Summary of key points

Staff numbers are full-person equivalents unless otherwise specified.

In 2004/05 there were in total 234,440 (2003/04: 227,525) full-time staff in the HE sector, of whom 45.5% (44.7%) were female, and 111,865 (110,580) part-time staff, of whom 67.9% (68.1%) were female. Also, reported for the first time in 2004/05, there were 164,550 atypical staff, of whom 49.9% were female.

Of all academic staff other than atypicals, 41.2% (40.0%) were female; for full time academic staff the proportion was 36.1% (35.1%)and for part-time academic staff, 52.1% (52.2%). The proportion of atypical academic staff who were female was 45.3%.

The total (full-person-equivalent) number of academic staff other than atypicals was 160,655 (150,230), of whom 109,625 (106,900) were full-time, constituting 46.8% (47.0%) of all full-time staff, and 51,030 (43,330) were part-time, constituting 45.6% (39.2%) of all part-time staff. There were 81,795 atypical academic staff, constituting 49.7% of all atypical staff. The number of full-time academic staff for 2002/03 recalculated on the new basis was 105,550; the corresponding 2003/04 figure was an increase of 1.3% on this, and the figure for 2004/05 was a further increase of 2.5%.

Of all full-time academic posts, 72.0% (70.6%) were wholly financed by the institutions themselves.

Teaching as a primary employment function was included in 71.4% (71.0%) of full-time and 86.3% (83.0%) of part-time academic posts.

The average age of full-time academic staff was 42.7 (42.5), and 40.6% (40.3%) were aged over 45.

Ethnicity was reported for 89.5% (88.1%) of all full- and part-time staff. Of those of known ethnicity, 9.2% (8.9%) were drawn from ethnic minority groups. For academic staff the percentages were 88.1% (86.2%) and 10.4% (10.5%). Both the overall proportion of ethnic minority staff, and the pattern on which different ethnic minority groups were represented, varied considerably by staff group. Ethnicity was reported for 40.7% of atypical staff, and, of those of known ethnicity, 15.4% were from ethnic minority groups.

Disability status was reported for 90.5% (90.4%) of all full- and part-time staff, and of those of known disability status, 2.4% (2.4%) had a disability. For full- and part-time academic staff, the percentages were 90.0% (89.9%) and 2.1% (2.1%). For atypical staff, the percentages were 73.0% and 1.0%.

Among full-time academic staff, the proportion of Professors who were female was 15.8% (15.0%); of Senior lecturers & researchers, 29.0% (27.1%); of Lecturers, 41.8% (40.3%) and of Researchers, 42.2% (41.7%).

Of all full-time academic staff, 26.0% (25.7%) were employed in medicine, dentistry, or health.

Of all research-only staff, 88.9% (91.1%) were employed on fixed-term contracts.

General

Table K shows the overall pattern of staffing in UK HEIs, including atypical staff for the first time.

Table K - All staff in all UK institutions by activity, mode of employment and gender 2004/05
  Full-time       Part-time       Atypical
  Female      Male      Total        Female      Male      Total        Female      Male      Total     
All activities 106650      127790      234440        75980      35885      111865        82160      82310      164550     
Managers 5045      6220      11265        760      255      1010        60      100      165     
Academic professionals 39610      70015      109625        26610      24420      51030        37065      44700      81795     
Non-academic professionals 9545      9030      18575        3005      880      3885        3715      4580      8340     
Laboratory, engineering, building, IT & medical technicians (including nurses) 6405      16655      23060        2805      1150      3955        1275      1955      3230     
Student welfare workers, careers advisors, vocational training instructors, personnel & planning officers 3665      1620      5285        2090      475      2565        3620      2445      6065     
Artistic, media, public relations, marketing & sports occupations 1940      1850      3790        795      335      1130        2395      1815      4210     
Library assistants, clerks & general administrative assistants 23440      6425      29865        14135      2415      16555        18605      13715      32330     
Secretaries, typists, receptionists & telephonists 11835      875      12705        6650      340      6990        2570      2020      4590     
Chefs, gardeners, electrical & construction trades, mechanical fitters & printers 570      4225      4790        390      250      640        345      400      745     
Caretakers, residential wardens, sports & leisure attendants, nursery nurses & care occupations 1280      1680      2960        1375      620      1995        1330      1120      2450     
Retail & customer service occupations 435      165      600        540      180      720        1460      860      2320     
Drivers, maintenance supervisors & plant operatives 155      1090      1250        135      110      245        90      175      265     
Cleaners, catering assistants, security officers, porters & maintenance workers 2725      7945      10670        16690      4445      21135        9625      8425      18050     
In this table 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest 5.

In 2004/05 (that is, on 1 December 2004) there were in total 234,440 full-time staff, of whom 45.5% were female, 111,865 part-time staff, of whom 67.9% were female, and 164,550 atypical staff, of whom 49.9% were female. Of the full-time staff, 46.8% were academic (group 2 in detailed tabulations), 26.4% were managerial, professional and technical (groups 1, 3, 4, 5, 6), 18.2% were secretarial and clerical (groups 7, 8), and 8.6% were manual (groups 9, 10, 11, 12, 133 The corresponding figures for part-time staff were 45.6%, 11.2%, 21.0% and 22.1%, and for atypical staff, 49.7%, 13.4%, 22.4% and 14.5%. The numbers in Table K are full-person equivalents, and for most purposes it is not useful to compare absolute numbers across the three different modes of employment. When comparing proportions, it should be borne in mind that among part-time staff, and probably to an even greater extent among atypical staff, the full-time-equivalent weighting of individuals varies greatly and may be correlated with the group into which they fall.

41.2% of all academic staff other than atypicals were female, women comprised 36.1% of those working full-time and 52.1% of those working part-time. Of atypical academic staff, 45.3% were female.

Table L provides a breakdown of academic staffing in HE excluding atypicals. The reason for this exclusion is that the factors by which numbers are broken down in the rows of this table are not recorded for atypicals, with the exception of gender where the information is available in Table K. The coverage of Table L corresponds fairly closely to that of the table labelled as Table K in Resources volumes up to 2002/03. The non-clinical/clinical split can no longer be made, but from 2003/04 onwards it has become possible to identify staff on fixed-term contracts.

Table L - Summary of academic staff (excluding atypical) in all UK institutions 2004/05
  Full-time Part-time Total
Mode of employment 109625 51030 160655
Gender
Female 39610 26610 66220
Male 70015 24420 94435
Source of salary
Wholly institutionally financed 78945 44530 123480
Other sources of finance 30680 6500 37180
Academic employment function
Teaching only 7685 31640 39330
Teaching & research 70590 12385 82980
Research only 30165 5935 36100
Neither teaching nor research 1180 1070 2250
Grade
Professors 13230 1250 14480
Senior lecturers & researchers 22850 3350 26200
Lecturers 37530 17630 55160
Researchers 28130 5305 33435
Other grades 7885 23500 31385
Terms of employment
Open-ended/permanent 73025 18280 91305
Fixed-term contract 36600 32750 69350
In this table 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest 5.

In 2004/05, the total number of academic staff other than atypicals employed by UK HEIs was 160,655, of whom 109,625, or 68.2% were in full-time employment. Because of the change from a session population to a 1 December population, these numbers cannot be compared with those published up to 2002/03, either in absolute or proportionate terms. However, it is possible to recalculate the number of full-time academic staff for 2002/03 on the new basis, and this gives a figure of 105,550; the corresponding 2003/04 figure was an increase of 1.3% on this, and the figure for 2004/05 was a further increase of 2.5%.

72.0% of full-time academic posts were wholly financed by the institutions themselves, this proportion rising to 87.3% for part-time posts.

71.4% of full-time academic posts and 86.3% of part-time academic posts included teaching as a primary employment function.

Inflow/outflow of full-time academic staff

Tables 14a and 14b give details of the inflow and outflow of academic staff during the year. For a variety of reasons, it would be extremely difficult to draw out from those tables any easily understood human capital balance sheet for academic staff. Table M achieves this by presenting numbers on a different basis, for headcount (used only in Table M) rather than full-person-equivalent (used in other contexts) full-time academic staff only. This results in numbers that are very slightly different from those in Table L. Table M is not comparable with tables produced in previous years.

Table M - Full-time academic staff inflows and outflows 2003/04 to 2004/05 Headcount
  Total
Full-time academic staff at 1 Dec 2003 107135
Full-time academic staff as at 1 Dec 2003 who are part-time academic at 1 Dec 2004 2525
Full-time academic staff at 1 Dec 2003 who are neither full-time nor part-time academic at 1 Dec 2004 15265
of which..
Other UK HEI 1750
Not other UK HEI (outflow) 13515
UK 1945
Non-UK 1170
Not in regular employment 810
Retirement 1045
Death 90
Other/unknown 8450
Full-time academic staff at 1 Dec in both years 89340
Full-time academic staff at 1 Dec 2004 who were neither full-time nor part-time academic at 1 Dec 2003 17550
of which..
Other UK HEI 3570
Not other UK HEI (inflow) 13980
UK 6085
Non-UK 2640
Not in regular employment 275
Unknown 4980
Full-time academic staff at 1 Dec 2004 who were part-time academic at 1 Dec 2003 3020
Full-time academic staff at 1 Dec 2004 109910
In this table 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest 5.

With the introduction of NISR, the presentation of staff numbers was changed to a 1 December snapshot basis. For 2004/05 it is for the first time possible to compare numbers in two such snapshots and to break down the change in total numbers, so Table M involves linkage between the staff records for 2003/04 and 2004/05. Starting from the number of full-time academic staff as at 1 December 2003, the number who can also be identified as full-time at the same institution on 1 December 2004 is determined, as is the number who have moved from full-time to part-time mode at the same institution. The balance is the number that have left their previous institution (or are still there but are no longer full- or part-time academic staff) during the year. Similarly, the number of full-time academic staff as at 1 December 2004 is determined, as is the number who have moved from part-time-to full-time mode at the same institution. From this, the number that have joined their current institution from outside during the year (or become full-time academic staff from some status other than part-time academic staff) is derived. This provides the overall structure of the balance sheet. The (headcount) number of full-time academic staff has increased from 107,135 at 1 December 2003 to 109,910 at 1 December 2004, an increase of 2.6%. Of those in post as at 1 December 2004, 89,340, or 81.3%, were full-time (and a further 3,020, or 2.7%, were part-time) academic staff at the same institution a year previously (note again that this is not on the same basis as the percentage quoted in previous years).

Although the table also gives a breakdown of starters and leavers, regrettably the very large proportion of unknowns, particularly in the case of leavers, means that no conclusions can safely be drawn from the breakdowns. For example, leavers going to other institutions in the HE sector and starters coming from other institutions in the HE sector might be expected to balance across the sector, although moves between full-time and part-time status will make this balance only approximate, but under-reporting has resulted in widely different numbers. For the same reason, it is unsafe to draw any conclusions about the ‘brain drain/gain’.

Age of full-time academic staff

Table Ni presents the age distribution of full-time academic staff by grade.

Table Ni - Full-time academic staff by grade and age 2004/05
  Professors Senior lecturers & researchers Lecturers Researchers Other grades Total
25 & under 0 35 240 2240 400 2920
26-30 5 165 2855 8895 855 12775
31-35 95 1180 6945 7605 870 16695
36-40 790 3710 7230 4225 895 16845
41-45 1830 4505 6165 2295 1055 15855
46-50 2515 4320 5425 1390 1170 14820
51-55 3255 4265 4675 825 1355 14375
56-60 3370 3495 3185 480 1005 11535
61-65 1285 1135 735 140 225 3520
66+ 80 40 50 25 40 235
Unknown 0 0 25 5 15 55
Total 13230 22850 37530 28130 7885 109625
In this table 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest 5.

Of those staff whose age was known, 40.6% were aged over 45 and 13.1% were aged between 51 and 55. 37.6% of senior lecturers & researchers were aged between 46 and 55, and 50.1% of professors were aged between 51 and 60. 81.7% of researchers were aged 40 years or under.

The average age of full-time academic staff was 42.7 and of part-time staff, 44.3 [from Table 23a]. The average age of atypical academic staff was 40.5 [from Table 23b].

In the reference volumes up to 2002/03, the corresponding table showed only the age distribution of non-clinical staff who were wholly institutionally-financed. From 2003/04 it has not been possible to limit tabulations to non-clinical staff, but it is possible to limit them to wholly institutionally-financed staff. To aid comparability with years up to 2002/03, Table Nii has been produced on this basis; it will not appear in future volumes.

Table Nii - Full-time wholly institutionally-financed academic staff by grade and age 2004/05
  Professors Senior lecturers & researchers Lecturers Researchers Other grades Total
25 & under 0 35 225 565 275 1100
26-30 5 140 2430 1640 560 4775
31-35 75 1010 5985 1410 590 9065
36-40 710 3190 6585 1010 660 12150
41-45 1615 3950 5645 650 785 12655
46-50 2275 3845 5000 405 930 12450
51-55 2955 3900 4385 330 1130 12705
56-60 3110 3285 3030 225 890 10535
61-65 1205 1085 710 65 205 3265
66+ 65 40 45 10 30 190
Unknown 0 0 25 5 15 50
Total 12015 20480 34065 6315 6075 78945
In this table 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest 5.

Of the staff included in Table Nii whose age was known, 49.6% were aged over 45 and 16.1% were aged between 51 and 55, for 2003/04 these percentages were 50.1% and 16.9% respectively. Subject to caveats about the move to a 1 December population and the inclusion of clinical staff, these figures may be compared with those published for 2002/03, which were 49% and 17%, so no material change is apparent over the three years.

Ethnicity of all staff

In years up to 2002/03, information on ethnicity was available only for full- and part-time academic staff, but from 2003/04 it has been possible to show the position for all types of staff, and for 2004/05 the coverage by mode extends to atypical staff as well as full- and part-time staff. In Table P ethnicity is shown broken down by the four broad-brush staff groups and by mode of employment. The layout is designed to facilitate comparisons with the corresponding table for 2003/04. The presentation of ethnicity data in this introductory section is not now limited to those of UK nationality, and this should be borne in mind if comparisons are made with figures published for previous years.

Table P - All staff by ethnicity and mode of employment 2004/05
  Total Staff of known ethnicity Staff of known ethnicity as a percentage of total staff Ethnic minority staff Ethnic minority staff as a percentage of staff of known ethnicity
All staff (excluding atypical) 346305 309880 89.5% 28515 9.2%
Academic staff 160655 141500 88.1% 14720 10.4%
Full-time 109625 99785 91.0% 11080 11.1%
Part-time 51030 41715 81.7% 3640 8.7%
Non-academic staff total 185650 168380 90.7% 13795 8.2%
Full-time 124820 114810 92.0% 8425 7.3%
Part-time 60830 53570 88.1% 5375 10.0%
Managerial, professional & technical staff 74520 68255 91.6% 4685 6.9%
Full-time 61975 57025 92.0% 3930 6.9%
Part-time 12550 11230 89.5% 755 6.7%
Clerical staff 66115 61480 93.0% 5085 8.3%
Full-time 42575 40050 94.1% 3315 8.3%
Part-time 23545 21430 91.0% 1770 8.3%
Manual staff 45010 38650 85.9% 4025 10.4%
Full-time 20270 17740 87.5% 1175 6.6%
Part-time 24740 20910 84.5% 2845 13.6%
Atypical staff 164550 66895 40.7% 10275 15.4%
Academic staff 81795 31125 38.1% 3430 11.0%
Non-academic staff 82760 35770 43.2% 6845 19.1%
Managerial, professional & technical staff 22005 11185 50.8% 1475 13.2%
Clerical staff 36920 14245 38.6% 2800 19.6%
Manual staff 23830 10340 43.4% 2570 24.9%
In this table 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest 5.

Of all full- and part-time staff, 89.5% reported their ethnicity. The response rate did not vary greatly by staff group and mode of employment, with the previously low response rate of 74.7% from part-time academic staff in 2003/04 having increased to 81.7% in 2004/05. Among staff of known ethnicity, the proportion from ethnic minority groups varied considerably, with greater representation among academic staff at 10.4% than among non-academic staff at 8.2%.

Ethnicity was reported for only 40.7% of atypical staff. This low proportion is probably a consequence of the newness of the reporting requirement, with institutional staff record systems not yet fully adapted to collect the necessary data at the time of appointment and retrospective collection from staff on such contracts being impracticable. It may be expected to increase substantially in future. Of those atypical staff of known ethnicity, 15.4% were from ethnic minority groups.

Charts 3i to 3iv show the percentages of those from ethnic minorities represented by each visible ethnic minority group, for each of these four groups of full- and part-time staff. Charts 3v and 3vi show the position for atypical staff, broken down between academic and non-academic staff. The pattern in each group is noticeably different.

Academic professional staff (excluding atypical)

Managerial, professional and technical staff (excluding atypical)

Clerical staff (excluding atypical)

Manual staff (excluding atypical)

Atypical staff (academic)

Atypical staff (non-academic)

Disability of all staff

Table Q presents information on disability in the same style as Table P; again, coverage now extends to all staff groups and is not limited to those of UK nationality.

Table Q - All staff by disability status and mode of employment 2004/05
  Total Staff of known disability status Staff of known disability status as a percentage of total staff Staff declared disabled Disabled staff as a percentage of staff with known disability status
All staff (excluding atypical) 346305 313510 90.5% 7675 2.4%
Academic staff 160655 144590 90.0% 3055 2.1%
Full-time 109625 100020 91.2% 2140 2.1%
Part-time 51030 44570 87.3% 915 2.1%
Non-academic staff total 185650 168920 91.0% 4620 2.7%
Full-time 124820 114225 91.5% 3130 2.7%
Part-time 60830 54695 89.9% 1490 2.7%
Managerial, professional & technical staff 74520 68000 91.2% 1945 2.9%
Full-time 61975 56635 91.4% 1580 2.8%
Part-time 12550 11365 90.6% 365 3.2%
Clerical staff 66115 60920 92.1% 1540 2.5%
Full-time 42575 39305 92.3% 960 2.4%
Part-time 23545 21615 91.8% 580 2.7%
Manual staff 45010 40000 88.9% 1130 2.8%
Full-time 20270 18280 90.2% 590 3.2%
Part-time 24740 21720 87.8% 545 2.5%
Atypical staff 164550 120160 73.0% 1150 1.0%
Academic staff 81795 61960 75.8% 560 0.9%
Non-academic staff 82760 58195 70.3% 590 1.0%
Managerial, professional & technical staff 22005 17110 77.8% 170 1.0%
Clerical staff 36920 22990 62.3% 315 1.4%
Manual staff 23830 18095 75.9% 110 0.6%
In this table 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest 5.

Disability status was reported for 90.5% of all full- and part-time staff. Of those of known disability status, 2.4% had a disability. For full- and part-time academic staff, the percentages were 90.0% and 2.1%. For atypical staff the percentages were 73.0% and 1.0%

Funding, grade and gender of full-time academic staff

Table R - Full-time academic staff in all UK institutions by source of salary, grade and gender 2004/05
  Source of salary
  Wholly institutionally financed All other sources of finance Total
Professors 12015 1215 13230
Female 1880 215 2095
Male 10135 1000 11135
Senior lecturers & researchers 20480 2370 22850
Female 5760 865 6625
Male 14715 1505 16225
Lecturers 34065 3465 37530
Female 13985 1700 15685
Male 20080 1765 21845
Researchers 6315 21815 28130
Female 2635 9220 11855
Male 3680 12595 16270
Other grades 6075 1810 7885
Female 2480 870 3350
Male 3595 940 4535
Total 78945 30680 109625
In this table 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest 5.

Among full-time academic staff, 90.4% of professors, senior lecturers & researchers, and lecturers were wholly institutionally funded, with very little variation across these grades, whereas 22.4% of researchers were wholly institutionally funded. Within each grade there was very little variation by gender in the proportion of full-time academic staff who were wholly institutionally funded.

The proportion of full-time professors who were female was 15.8%; of senior lecturers & researchers, 29.0%; of lecturers, 41.8%; and of researchers, 42.2%.

Cost centre distribution of full-time academic staff

Table S - Full-time academic staff in all UK institutions by source of salary, gender and departmental cost centre 2004/05
  Wholly institutionally financed     All other sources of finance
  Female Male Total   Female Male Total
Cost centres 26740 52205 78945   12870 17805 30680
Medicine, dentistry & health 7710 7725 15440   6920 6190 13105
Agriculture, forestry & veterinary science 375 920 1295   245 240 485
Biological, mathematical & physical sciences 2170 8825 10995   2940 5535 8475
Engineering & technology 1745 9985 11730   785 3625 4410
Architecture & planning 365 1270 1635   110 180 290
Administrative, business & social studies 5920 11670 17585   905 1025 1930
Humanities & language based studies & archaeology 3490 5205 8695   430 465 895
Design, creative & performing arts 1490 2710 4200   80 105 185
Education 2820 2975 5795   360 270 630
Academic services 260 295 555   50 70 120
Administration & central services 385 620 1005   45 95 145
Premises 5 5 10   0 0 0
Residences & catering 0 5 5   0 0 5
In this table 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest 5.

36.9% of female and 19.9% of male full-time academic staff worked in medicine, dentistry & health. The biological, mathematical & physical science departments accounted for 20.5% of male full-time academic staff.

45.9% of full-time academic staff in medicine, dentistry & health and 43.5% in biological, mathematical & physical sciences were financed other than wholly by the institutions themselves. Cost centre groups with the fewest partially or wholly externally funded full-time academic staff were in the areas of design, creative and performing arts (4.2%), humanities and language based studies and archaeology (9.3%), education (9.8%) and administration, business and social studies (9.9%). These cost centre groups are different from those used last year and so these figures are not strictly comparable with those in last year’s introduction. The Definitions at the end of this volume describe the new cost centre groups.

Pattern of employment of academic staff

Table T - Academic staff (excluding atypical) in all UK institutions by academic employment function, gender, mode and terms of employment 2004/05
  Full-time     Part-time
  Open-ended/ permanent Fixed-term contract Total   Open-ended/ permanent Fixed-term contract Total
Teaching only 4855 2830 7685   10225 21420 31640
Female 2330 1440 3770   5310 10340 15650
Male 2525 1390 3915   4915 11080 15995
Teaching & research 63925 6665 70590   7315 5075 12385
Female 20170 2620 22790   4375 2260 6635
Male 43755 4045 47800   2940 2815 5750
Research only 3390 26775 30165   610 5325 5935
Female 1205 11405 12615   440 3420 3855
Male 2185 15370 17550   170 1905 2080
Neither teaching nor research 855 325 1180   135 935 1070
Female 305 135 435   90 380 470
Male 550 195 745   45 555 595
Total 73025 36600 109625   18280 32750 51030
In this table 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest 5.

At 88.8% for full-time staff and 89.7% for part-time staff, fixed-term contracts were the norm among research-only staff regardless of mode of employment, although these percentages have fallen slightly since 2003/04. Among staff who had teaching responsibilities, the figures were 12.1% and 60.2% respectively, so fixed-term contracts were far commoner for part-time teaching staff. For female staff who had teaching responsibilities, the figures were 15.3% and 56.5% respectively, so the proportion of full-time female teaching staff on fixed-term contracts was somewhat higher than that of male staff, whereas there was little difference in the proportions for part-time staff.

80.5% of teaching-only staff were part-time, compared with 16.4% for research-only staff and 14.9% for staff with both teaching and research duties.


1 The number of Welsh institutions in this volume is different from the number reported in some other HESA products because of the inclusion of finance and staff data from The University of Wales (central functions), previously reported under the name ‘The University of Wales Registry’.

2 Non-statutory publications omit any contribution from individuals who have notified HESA of their wish to be excluded in circumstances such as the publication of the present volume where inclusion is not defined as a requirement by the bodies whose statutory powers underpin HESA data collection.

3 In 2003/04 mention of staff in group 13 was inadvertently omitted from this list, but the number of such staff was correctly included for the calculation of percentages.