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Introduction - Resources 2005/06

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 GuildHE (formerly 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 2005/06 that is, the period 1 August 2005 to 31 July 2006. It covers data supplied by 168 HEIs (131 in England, 131 in Wales, 20 in Scotland, 4 in Northern Ireland); one of the English HEIs, The University of Buckingham, is a non-publicly-funded institution voluntarily providing data to HESA. 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. This 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 further education colleges.

HESA also publishes annually two Statistical First Releases within the National Statistics framework; the Higher Education Management Statistics at institutional level (on CD up to 2004/05; this material will in future be available through heidi (see below), and will not be published separately); 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. The higher education information database for institutions (heidi) commenced operation in April 2007, and offers a subscription service to institutions and approved HE bodies to allow the interrogation of HESA and other data through the production and export of tabular reports, and their display as charts.

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 2003 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 £1,899 million (9.8%).

There has been an increase of £459 million in short-term borrowing and an increase of £346 million in short-term investments.

Income and expenditure

Income during the year amounted to £19.5 billion.

The surplus of income over expenditure was £175 million.

Sources of income

Funding council grants increased by £574 million (8.2%).

The amount of income received from tuition fees and education grants & contracts increased by 6.5%. EU domiciled students (including UK domiciled students) charged full-time HE course standard fees accounted for 32.2% of income from those sources.

Research councils provided 34.4% of research grants & contracts, the largest share of the total.

Expenditure

The £1,337 million (7.4%) rise in total expenditure was the result of broadly similar percentage rises in each of the two large components, staff costs (£726 million, 6.9%) and other operating expenses (£526 million, 8.2%), but there was a slightly larger percentage increase of 10.0% (£88 million) in depreciation, and interest payable fell slightly.

Balance sheet

A comparison of the HE sector’s balance sheet at 31 July 2006 with that at 31 July 2005 (both as stated in the 2005/06 accounts in Table A below) shows a £459 million increase in short-term creditors while amounts due after more than one year have increased by £341 million. There was an increase of £91 million in debtors.

The value of tangible assets has increased by £1,899 million (9.8%), and endowment assets have increased by £337 million (10.6%). Endowments (specific and general) have also increased by £335 million from last year, compared with an increase of £483 million from 2004 to 2005.

A - Balance sheet(#6)
  Balance (£ thousands) as at 31 July
  2006 2005 Change % change
Fixed assets
Intangible assets 266200 241529 24671 10.2%
Tangible assets 21247097 19347918 1899179 9.8%
Investments 863064 840672 22392 2.7%
Total 22376361 20430119 1946242 9.5%
Endowment assets 3520327 3183427 336900 10.6%
Current assets
Stock 86584 86682 -98 -0.1%
Debtors 2383388 2292120 91268 4.0%
Investments 2104715 1759198 345517 19.6%
Cash at bank & in hand 1339252 1130187 209065 18.5%
Total 5913939 5268187 645752 12.3%
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 4706225 4246929 459296 10.8%
Net current assets 1207714 1021258 186456 18.3%
Total assets less current liabilities 27104402 24634804 2469598 10.0%
Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year 3743469 3402775 340694 10.0%
Provisions for liabilities & charges 278431 298780 -20349 -6.8%
Net assets excluding pension asset/liability 23082502 20933249 2149253 10.3%
Pension asset/liability -2388682 -2261246 -127436 5.6%
Net assets including pension asset/liability 20693820 18672003 2021817 10.8%
Deferred capital grants 7013220 6141841 871379 14.2%
Endowments
Specific 2943239 2657169 286070 10.8%
General 578281 528904 49377 9.3%
Total 3521520 3186073 335447 10.5%
Reserves 10159080 9344089 814991 8.7%
Total 20693820 18672003 2021817 10.8%
# see relevant footnote in Notes to tables.

Income and expenditure

The income of the HE sector totalled £19.5 billion during the financial year to 31 July 2006; this compares with £18.1 billion for the previous year. The surplus of income over expenditure increased from £191 million in 2004/05 to £166 million in 2005/06.

Table B - Total income and expenditure, financial years 2005/06 and 2004/05(#6)
  2005/06 2004/05 % change
Income 19503112 18141214 7.5%
Expenditure 19312168 17975579 7.4%
Surplus/(deficit) for the year 190944 165635 15.3%
Surplus/deficit as percentage of income 1.0% 0.9%  
# 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 2005/06

The number of institutions reporting a surplus or breakeven was 120 out of 168 in 2005/06, compared with 109 out of 168 in 2004/053. Deficits in both financial years were reported by 31 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. This year, for the first time, the tables include finance data for The University of Buckingham, which is a non-publicly-funded institution and operates on a different financial year from that standard for the rest of the sector.

Table C - Income and expenditure by UK country(#6)
                  (£  thousands)
  Financial Year 2005/06     Financial Year 2004/05
Location of Institution Income Expenditure Surplus/ (deficit) for the year % of income   Income Expenditure Surplus/ (deficit) for the year % of income
England 16114968 15979983 134985 0.8%   14964138 14846712 117426 0.8%
Wales 917542 902229 15313 1.7%   853510 836777 16733 2.0%
Scotland 2064336 2035619 28717 1.4%   1938480 1917267 21213 1.1%
Northern Ireland 406266 394337 11929 2.9%   385086 374823 10263 2.7%
Total 19503112 19312168 190944 1.0%   18141214 17975579 165635 0.9%
# 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(#6)
      (£ thousands)
  2005/06 2004/05 % change
Funding council grants 7544078 6969743 8.2%
Tuition fees & education grants & contracts 4640799 4358475 6.5%
Research grants & contracts 3120606 2887947 8.1%
Other income 3854546 3618452 6.5%
Endowment & investment income 343083 306597 11.9%
Total income* 19503112 18141214 7.5%
Share of the above income from joint ventures** -15674 -16326 -4.0%
Total income less income from joint ventures 19487438 18124888 7.5%
# see relevant footnote in Notes to tables.
* This is the sum of the five preceding components and is comparable with total income as reported in previous years.
** Income from joint ventures can arise as a sub-component within more than one of the components of total income.

Sources of income 2001/02 to 2005/06

Funding council grants represent a 38.7% proportion of total income. Tuition fees & education grants & contracts represent a 23.8% proportion of total income. These proportions are very close to those for 2004/05. The breakdown in Table D now also shows the component of income arising from joint ventures, and the net income after removing this component.

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 Funding Council (SFC) 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). In relation to some categories of FE teaching funding comes from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) in England and the National Assembly for Wales (NAW).

Table E - Breakdown of funding council grants 2005/06
    (£ thousands)
    % of total
HE Provision(#7)
Recurrent - teaching 4992550 66.2%
Recurrent - research 1543826 20.5%
Recurrent - other (inc. special funding) 640778 8.5%
Release of deferred capital grants - buildings 137870 1.8%
Release of deferred capital grants - equipment 119096 1.6%
FE provision(#8) 109958 1.5%
Total funding council grants 7544078 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 6.5% this year to £4.64 billion from £4.36 billion in 2004/05. Income from overseas (non-EU) students provided 32.3% of income in this category.

Table F - Income from tuition fees and education grants and contracts 2005/06
    (£ thousands)
    % of total
HE course fees
Full-time UK & EU domiciled students charged standard fees 1492928 32.2%
Full-time UK & EU domiciled students charged non-standard fees 744505 16.0%
Part-time HE course fees 481053 10.4%
Non-EU domicile students 1499348 32.3%
Sub-total HE course fees 4217834 90.9%
Non-credit-bearing course fees 314601 6.8%
FE course fees 23035 0.5%
Research training support grants 85329 1.8%
Total tuition fees & education grants & contracts 4640799 100.0%

Research grants and contracts

Research grants & contracts increased by 8.1% this year to £3.12 billion from £2.89 billion in 2004/05. The Office of Science and Innovation (OSI) research councils continue to be the largest providers by representing a 34.4% proportion of total research grants & contracts income.

Table G - Income from research grants and contracts 2005/06
    (£ thousands)
    % of total
OSI research councils 1073372 34.4%
UK based charities 725665 23.3%
UK central government/local authorities, health & hospital authorities 576560 18.5%
UK industry, commerce & public corporations 256423 8.2%
EU government bodies 219160 7.0%
EU other 40279 1.3%
Other overseas 171761 5.5%
Other sources 57386 1.8%
Total research grants & contracts 3120606 100.0%

Other income

Income in this category increased by 6.5% this year to £3.85 billion from £3.62 billion in 2004/05.

Table H - Other income 2005/06
    (£ thousands)
    % of total
Other services rendered
UK central government/local authorities, health & hospital authorities, EU government bodies 432648 11.2%
Other 779718 20.2%
Sub-total other services rendered 1212366 31.5%
Residences & catering operations (including conferences) 1162244 30.2%
Grants from local authorities 2446 0.1%
Income from health & hospital authorities (excluding teaching contracts for student provision) 313575 8.1%
Released from deferred capital grants 87375 2.3%
Income from intellectual property rights 30815 0.8%
Other operating income 1045725 27.1%
Total other income 3854546 100.0%

Expenditure

The 7.4% (£1,337 million) rise in expenditure to £19.3 billion as shown in Table I did not vary greatly as a percentage as between staff costs and other operating expenses, but there was a slightly greater increase in depreciation, and the smallest component, interest payable, fell slightly.

Table I - Expenditure, financial years ending 2005/06 and 2004/05(#6)
      (£ thousands)
      % of total
Staff costs 11188241 10461801 6.9%
Other operating expenses 6908704 6382450 8.2%
Depreciation 961211 873658 10.0%
Interest payable 254012 257670 -1.4%
Total 19312168 17975579 7.4%
# 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 41.0% proportion of total expenditure and residences and catering operations represent a proportion of just 5.5%.

Table J - Distribution of expenditure by activity 2005/06
    (£ thousands)
    % of total
Academic departments 7926858 41.0%
Academic services 1482617 7.7%
Administration & central services 2606383 13.5%
Premises 2193385 11.4%
Residences & catering operations (including conferences) 1058115 5.5%
Research grants & contracts 2634657 13.6%
Other expenditure 1410153 7.3%
Total expenditure 19312168 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 9.9% and 9.7% respectively, spending £788 million and £767 million in 2005/06. The social studies cost centre and nursing & paramedical studies cost centre have a 7.8% and 6.9% share of total expenditure respectively. They spent £617 million and £546 million in 2005/06. These numbers are derived from the Total UK row of Table 2d.

Staff data

The HESA Staff Return for 2005/06 is the third collection using the present form of the record, although data on atypical staff was not collected prior to 2004/05. It is an individualised return. 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.

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 HESA Staff Record is the format of collection. 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 will be 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.

Prior to 2003/04, the coverage and structure of HESA data collections on staff were very different, and caution is needed if it is desired to make meaningful comparisons between data from those collections, and from collections for 2003/04 onwards. Reference should be made to the 2003/04 or 2004/05 volumes for more details. From 2003/04 onwards, the only fundamental changes have been the inclusion of atypical staff, starting in 2004/05, and the revision of the cost centres, also introduced for 2004/05. Atypical staff are, broadly speaking, staff on contracts that qualify them for inclusion in the HESA Staff Record, 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.

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.

For a limited period after normal data collection, an institution may, when required or approved by the relevant funding body, submit data to the ‘Fixed Database’ through the HESA data collection system, in order to correct material errors in the data originally submitted. Data from this 'Fixed Database' is available about 16 months after the closure of the original data collection. This means that the 'Fixed Database' for the 2005/06 Staff data underlying this volume, will be available from April 2008, and the ‘Fixed Database’ for staff data underlying last year's Resources Reference Volume will be available from April 2007.

Summary of key points

In 2005/06 there were in total 237,920 (2004/05: 234,440; 2003/04: 227,525) full-time staff in the HE sector, of whom 45.6% (45.5%; 44.7%) were female, and 117,495 (111,865; 110,580) part-time staff, of whom 67.8% (67.9%; 68.1%) were female. Also, reported for the first time in 2004/05, there were 165,560 (164,550) atypical staff, of whom 50.7% (49.9%) were female.

Of all academic staff other than atypicals, 41.9% (41.2%; 40.0%) were female; for full time academic staff the proportion was 36.6% (36.1%; 35.1%) and for part-time academic staff, 53.1% (52.1%; 52.2%). The proportion of atypical academic staff who were female was 46.7% (45.3%).

The total (full-person-equivalent) number of academic staff other than atypicals was 164,875 (160,655; 150,230), of whom 111,410 (109,625; 106,900) were full-time, constituting 46.8% (46.8%; 47.0%) of all full-time staff, and 53,465 (51,030; 43,330) were part-time, constituting 45.5% (45.6%; 39.2%) of all part-time staff. There were 80,930 (81,795) atypical academic staff, constituting 48.9% (49.7%) of all atypical staff. The number of full-time academic staff increased by 2.5% between 2003/04 and 2004/05, and by a further 1.6% between 2004/05 and 2005/06.

Of all full-time academic posts, 71.8% (72.0%; 70.6%) were wholly financed by the institutions themselves.

Teaching as a primary employment function was included in 70.9% (71.4%; 71.0%) of full-time and 87.2% (86.3%; 83.0%) of part-time academic posts.

The average age of full-time academic staff was 42.8 (42.7; 42.5), and 40.7% (40.6%; 40.3%) were aged over 45.

Ethnicity was reported for 89.7% (89.5%; 88.1%) of all full- and part-time staff. Of those of known ethnicity, 9.6% (9.2%; 8.9%) were drawn from ethnic minority groups. For academic staff the percentages were 88.5% (88.1%; 86.2%) and 10.7% (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 47.7% (40.7%) of atypical staff, and, of those of known ethnicity, 15.7% (15.4%) were from ethnic minority groups.

Disability status was reported for 91.9% (90.5%; 90.4%) of all full- and part-time staff, and of those of known disability status, 2.4% (2.4%; 2.4%) had a disability. For full- and part-time academic staff, the percentages were 91.6% (90.0%; 89.9%) and 2.1% (2.1%; 2.1%). For atypical staff, the percentages were 73.7% (73.0%) and 1.2% (1.0%).

Among full-time academic staff, the proportion of Professors who were female was 16.5% (15.8%; 15.0%); of Senior lecturers & researchers, 30.8% (29.0%; 27.1%); of Lecturers, 42.6% (41.8%; 40.3%) and of Researchers, 42.1% (42.2%; 41.7%).

Of all full-time academic staff, 26.1% (26.0%; 25.7%) were employed in medicine, dentistry, or health.

Of all research-only staff, 84.7% (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.

Table K - All staff in all UK institutions by activity, mode of employment and gender(#4) 2005/06
  Full-time       Part-time       Atypical
  Female      Male      Total        Female      Male      Total        Female      Male      Total     
All activities 108610 129305 237920   79660 37835 117495   83885 81230 165560
Managers 5130 6195 11325   900 280 1180   85 150 230
Academic professionals 40745 70665 111410   28380 25085 53465   37795 42875 80930
Non-academic professionals 9695 9360 19055   3345 1200 4545   4900 6050 10980
Laboratory, engineering, building, IT & medical technicians (including nurses) 6295 16480 22775   2920 1280 4200   1805 2665 4470
Student welfare workers, careers advisors, vocational training instructors, personnel & planning officers 3855 1730 5580   2215 435 2650   3355 2110 5470
Artistic, media, public relations, marketing & sports occupations 2010 1845 3855   835 405 1235   2470 1880 4355
Library assistants, clerks & general administrative assistants 24735 7090 31825   15545 3040 18585   21930 15710 37665
Secretaries, typists, receptionists & telephonists 11275 850 12125   6575 380 6955   2105 1595 3705
Chefs, gardeners, electrical & construction trades, mechanical fitters & printers 595 4200 4795   330 225 560   270 340 615
Caretakers, residential wardens, sports & leisure attendants, nursery nurses & care occupations 1210 1645 2860   1650 730 2380   1280 1145 2430
Retail & customer service occupations 375 165 540   470 100 570   785 415 1200
Drivers, maintenance supervisors & plant operatives 140 1060 1205   125 110 235   160 305 470
Cleaners, catering assistants, security officers, porters & maintenance workers 2550 8020 10570   16375 4565 20940   6940 5990 13040
In this table 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest multiple of 5.
# see relevant footnote in Notes to tables.

In 2005/06 (that is, on 1 December 2005) there were in total 237,920 full-time staff, of whom 45.6% were female, 117,495 part-time staff, of whom 67.8% were female, and 165,560 atypical staff, of whom 50.7% were female. Of the full-time staff, 46.8% were academic (group 2 in detailed tabulations), 26.3% were managerial, professional and technical (groups 1, 3, 4, 5, 6), 18.5% were secretarial and clerical (groups 7, 8), and 8.4% were manual (groups 9, 10, 11, 12, 13). The corresponding figures for part-time staff were 45.5%, 11.8%, 21.7% and 21.0%, and for atypical staff, 48.9%, 15.4%, 25.0% and 10.7%. The numbers in Table K are full-person equivalents (headcounts, but apportioned across contracts where there are multiple contracts), not full-time equivalents (FTE; weighted by proportion relative to full-time), and for most purposes it is not useful to compare absolute numbers across the three different modes of employment because of the very different FTE weights involved. An extreme example is given by an atypical member of academic staff giving just a single class in the course of the year, who might have an FTE weight as low as 0.001. Even when comparing percentages of totals, it should be borne in mind that among part-time staff, and to an even greater extent among atypical staff, the FTE weighting of individuals varies greatly and may be correlated with the group into which they fall.

41.9% of all academic staff other than atypicals were female. Women comprised 36.6% of those working full-time and 53.1% of those working part-time. Of atypical academic staff, 46.7% 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 2005/06
  Full-time Part-time Total
Mode of employment 111410 53465 164875
Gender(#4)
Female 40745 28380 69125
Male 70665 25085 95750
Source of salary
Wholly institutionally financed 79985 46590 126575
Other sources of finance 31430 6875 38300
Academic employment function
Teaching only 7775 33800 41575
Teaching & research 71185 12825 84010
Research only 31020 6290 37310
Neither teaching nor research 1430 550 1980
Grade
Professors 14050 1455 15505
Senior lecturers & researchers 24590 3625 28215
Lecturers 34975 18595 53570
Researchers 29260 5635 34895
Other grades 8540 24155 32690
Terms of employment
Open-ended/permanent 76425 21130 97555
Fixed-term contract 34985 32335 67325
In this table 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest multiple of 5.
# see relevant footnote in Notes to tables.

In 2005/06, the total number of academic staff other than atypicals employed by UK HEIs was 164,875, of whom 111,410, or 67.6% 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.

71.8% of full-time academic posts were wholly financed by the institutions themselves, this proportion rising to 87.1% for part-time posts.

70.9% of full-time academic posts and 87.2% of part-time academic posts included teaching as a primary employment function.

Inflow/outflow of 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. Tables Mi and Mii achieve this by presenting numbers on a different basis, for headcount (used only in Tables Mi and Mii) rather than full-person-equivalent (used in all other contexts) academic staff only. This results in numbers that are slightly different from those in Table L. Tables Mi and Mii are not comparable with tables produced prior to 2004/05. Table Mi, for full-time academic staff, is comparable4 with Table M in the volume for 2004/05. Table Mii, for part-time academic staff, is new this year.

Table Mi - Full-time academic staff inflows and outflows 2004/05 to 2005/06 Headcount
  Total
Full-time academic staff at 1 December 2004 109900
Full-time academic staff at 1 December 2004 who are part-time academic at 1 December 2005 3215
Full-time academic staff at 1 December 2004 who are neither full-time nor part-time academic at 1 December 2005 15045
of which…
Other UK HEI 1945
Not other UK HEI (outflow) 13105
UK 2055
Non-UK 1115
Not in regular employment 865
Retirement 955
Death 75
Other/unknown 8035
Full-time academic staff at 1 December in both years 91640
Full-time academic staff at 1 December 2005 who were neither full-time nor part-time academic at 1 December 2004 18060
of which…
Other UK HEI 4040
Not other UK HEI (inflow) 14020
UK 6335
Non-UK 3170
Not in regular employment 350
Unknown 4165
Full-time academic staff at 1 December 2005 who were part-time academic at 1 December 2004 1950
Full-time academic staff at 1 December 2005 111650
In this table 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest multiple of 5.

Table Mi involves linkage between the staff records for 2004/05 and 2005/06. Starting from the number of full-time academic staff as at 1 December 2004, the number who can also be identified as full-time at the same institution on 1 December 2005 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 2005 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 109,900 to 111,650 during the year, an increase of 1.6%. Of those in post as at 1 December 2005, 91,640, or 82.1%, were full-time (and a further 1,950, or 1.7%, 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 prior to 2004/05).

Table Mii - Part-time academic staff inflows and outflows 2004/05 to 2005/06 Headcount
  Total
Part-time academic staff at 1 December 2004 51700
Part-time academic staff at 1 December 2004 who are full-time academic at 1 December 2005 1950
Part-time academic staff at 1 December 2004 who are neither full-time nor part-time academic at 1 December 2005 15730
of which…
Other UK HEI 430
Not other UK HEI (outflow) 15305
UK 1150
Non-UK 165
Not in regular employment 910
Retirement 370
Death 35
Other/unknown 12665
Part-time academic staff at 1 December in both years 34020
Part-time academic staff at 1 December 2005 who were neither full-time nor part-time academic at 1 December 2004 16945
of which…
Other UK HEI 1750
Not other UK HEI (inflow) 15200
UK 5870
Non-UK 825
Not in regular employment 565
Unknown 7940
Part-time academic staff at 1 December 2005 who were full-time academic at 1 December 2004 3215
Part-time academic staff at 1 December 2005 54180
In this table 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest multiple of 5.

Table Mii provides similar information for part-time academic staff, and is constructed on the same basis with, of course, part-time and full-time modes interchanged as between the two tables. The (headcount) number of part-time academic staff has increased from 51,700 to 54,180 during the year, an increase of 4.8%. Of those in post as at 1 December 2005, 34,020, or 62.8%, were part-time (and a further 3,215, or 5.9%, were full-time) academic staff at the same institution a year previously. These figures show much lower retention rates for part-time staff than for full-time staff, and, within institutions, more movement from full-time to part-time than in the reverse direction.

Although these tables also give breakdowns 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 within each mode, 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’.

Atypical academic staff are, by definition, employed on a basis that makes it inappropriate to construct such a table for them.

Age of academic staff

Table N presents the age distribution of full-time academic staff by grade. It corresponds to Table Ni in the volumes for 2003/04 and 2004/05; Table Nii no longer appears as from 2005/06.

Table N - Full-time academic staff by grade and age 2005/06
  Professors Senior lecturers & researchers Lecturers Researchers Other grades Total
25 & under 0 5 275 2140 415 2835
26-30 10 230 2755 9340 885 13225
31-35 105 1515 6365 7840 960 16780
36-40 815 3950 6660 4345 1040 16810
41-45 2025 4950 5795 2475 1120 16370
46-50 2705 4570 4960 1430 1210 14875
51-55 3260 4365 4310 935 1390 14260
56-60 3565 3740 2995 535 1145 11985
61-65 1490 1225 815 180 300 4010
66+ 75 35 35 30 50 230
Unknown 5 0 5 0 20 35
Total 14050 24590 34975 29260 8540 111410
In this table 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest multiple of 5.

Of those staff whose age was known, 40.7% were aged over 45 and 12.8% were aged between 51 and 55. 36.3% of senior lecturers & researchers were aged between 46 and 55, and 48.6% of professors were aged between 51 and 60. 80.9% of researchers were aged 40 years or under.

The average age of full-time academic staff was 42.8 and of part-time staff, 44.3 [from Table 23a]. The average age of atypical academic staff was 40.5 [from Table 23b].

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 from 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 the same as that used for 2004/05, and 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 years prior to 2003/04.

Table P - All staff by ethnicity and mode of employment 2005/06
  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) 355415 318740 89.7% 30520 9.6%
Academic staff 164875 145915 88.5% 15550 10.7%
Full-time 111410 101425 91.0% 11635 11.5%
Part-time 53465 44490 83.2% 3910 8.8%
Non-academic staff total 190540 172825 90.7% 14970 8.7%
Full-time 126510 116705 92.3% 9045 7.8%
Part-time 64030 56120 87.6% 5925 10.6%
Managerial, professional and technical staff 76405 70290 92.0% 5085 7.2%
Full-time 62595 57795 92.3% 4190 7.3%
Part-time 13815 12500 90.5% 895 7.1%
Clerical staff 69485 64085 92.2% 5690 8.9%
Full-time 43950 41290 94.0% 3635 8.8%
Part-time 25540 22795 89.3% 2050 9.0%
Manual staff 44645 38450 86.1% 4195 10.9%
Full-time 19965 17620 88.3% 1215 6.9%
Part-time 24680 20825 84.4% 2980 14.3%
Atypical staff 165560 79015 47.7% 12370 15.7%
Academic 80930 34960 43.2% 4105 11.7%
Non-academic 84630 44055 52.1% 8265 18.8%
Managerial, professional and technical staff 25505 14300 56.1% 2055 14.4%
Clerical staff 41370 19955 48.2% 4080 20.4%
Manual staff 17755 9795 55.2% 2135 21.8%
In this table 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest multiple of 5. Percentages are not subject to rounding.

Of all full- and part-time staff, 89.7% reported their ethnicity. The response rate did not vary greatly by staff group and mode of employment. Among staff of known ethnicity, the proportion from ethnic minority groups varied considerably, with greater representation among academic staff at 10.7% than among non-academic staff at 8.7%.

Ethnicity was reported for only 47.7% 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, and has already increased from 40.7% in 2004/05. Of those atypical staff of known ethnicity, 15.7% 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 2005/06
  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) 355415 326515 91.9% 7850 2.4%
Academic staff 164875 150990 91.6% 3195 2.1%
Full-time 111410 103340 92.8% 2130 2.1%
Part-time 53465 47650 89.1% 1065 2.2%
Non-academic staff total 190540 175525 92.1% 4655 2.7%
Full-time 126510 117790 93.1% 3150 2.7%
Part-time 64030 57735 90.2% 1505 2.6%
Managerial, professional & technical staff 76405 71490 93.6% 2000 2.8%
Full-time 62595 58660 93.7% 1620 2.8%
Part-time 13815 12825 92.9% 380 3.0%
Clerical staff 69485 63950 92.0% 1585 2.5%
Full-time 43950 40935 93.1% 975 2.4%
Part-time 25540 23015 90.1% 610 2.6%
Manual staff 44645 40090 89.8% 1070 2.7%
Full-time 19965 18195 91.1% 555 3.0%
Part-time 24680 21895 88.7% 515 2.4%
Atypical staff 165560 122055 73.7% 1470 1.2%
Academic 80930 60065 74.2% 645 1.1%
Non-academic 84630 61990 73.3% 825 1.3%
Managerial, professional & technical staff 25505 21440 84.1% 225 1.1%
Clerical staff 41370 27800 67.2% 390 1.4%
Manual staff 17755 12750 71.8% 215 1.7%
In this table 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest multiple of 5. Percentages are not subject to rounding.

Disability status was reported for 91.9% 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 91.6% and 2.1%. For atypical staff the percentages were 73.7% and 1.2%

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(#4) 2005/06
  Source of salary
  Wholly institutionally financed All other sources of finance Total
Professors 12730 1325 14050
Female 2080 240 2320
Male 10650 1085 11730
Senior lecturers & researchers 22085 2505 24590
Female 6615 960 7575
Male 15470 1545 17015
Lecturers 31885 3090 34975
Female 13435 1465 14900
Male 18445 1625 20075
Researchers 6350 22905 29260
Female 2685 9645 12330
Male 3665 13265 16930
Other grades 6935 1600 8540
Female 2855 765 3620
Male 4080 835 4915
Total 79985 31430 111410
In this table 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest multiple of 5.
# see relevant footnote in Notes to tables.

Among full-time academic staff, 90.6% of professors, senior lecturers & researchers, and lecturers were wholly institutionally funded, with very little variation across these grades, whereas 21.7% 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 16.5%; of senior lecturers & researchers, 30.8%; of lecturers, 42.6%; and of researchers, 42.1%.

Cost centre distribution of full-time academic staff

Table S - Full-time academic staff in all UK institutions by source of salary, gender(#4) and departmental cost centre 2005/06
  Wholly institutionally financed     All other sources of finance
  Female Male Total   Female Male Total
Cost centres 27670 52310 79985   13075 18355 31430
Medicine, dentistry & health 7995 7850 15845   6985 6260 13245
Agriculture, forestry & veterinary science 375 825 1205   225 240 460
Biological, mathematical & physical sciences 2240 8810 11050   3065 5920 8985
Engineering & technology 1735 9785 11520   820 3705 4525
Architecture & planning 365 1255 1620   95 160 255
Administrative, business & social studies 6220 11855 18075   935 1100 2040
Humanties & language based studies & archaeology 3525 5225 8745   425 480 910
Design, creative & performing arts 1500 2695 4195   70 80 150
Education 2960 3005 5965   340 240 580
Academic services 325 300 625   45 75 120
Administration & central services 425 700 1125   65 90 155
Premises 5 5 10   0 0 0
Residences & catering 5 0 5   0 0 0
In this table 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest multiple of 5.
# see relevant footnote in Notes to tables.

36.8% of female and 20.0% of male full-time academic staff worked in medicine, dentistry & health. The biological, mathematical & physical science departments accounted for 20.8% of male full-time academic staff.

45.5% of full-time academic staff in medicine, dentistry & health and 44.8% 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 (3.4%), education (8.9%), humanities and language based studies and archaeology (9.4%) and administrative, business and social studies (10.1%). The Definitions at the end of this volume describe the current cost centre groups, some of which differ from those used prior to 2004/05.

Pattern of employment of academic staff

Table T - Academic staff (excluding atypical) in all UK institutions by academic employment function, gender(#4), mode and terms of employment 2005/06
  Full-time     Part-time
  Open-ended/ permanent Fixed-term contract Total   Open-ended/ permanent Fixed-term contract Total
Teaching only 5395 2385 7775   11640 22160 33800
Female 2650 1150 3800   6095 10895 16990
Male 2740 1235 3975   5545 11265 16810
Teaching & research 65295 5885 71185   8360 4470 12825
Female 21050 2430 23480   5030 1930 6960
Male 44245 3460 47705   3330 2535 5865
Research only 4730 26290 31020   975 5315 6290
Female 1800 11145 12940   705 3420 4125
Male 2935 15145 18080   270 1900 2170
Neither teaching nor research 1005 425 1430   155 390 550
Female 375 150 525   115 190 305
Male 630 275 905   40 200 245
Total 76425 34985 111410   21130 32335 53465
In this table 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest multiple of 5.
# see relevant footnote in Notes to tables.

At 84.7% for full-time staff and 84.5% for part-time staff, fixed-term contracts were the norm among research-only staff regardless of mode of employment, although these percentages have fallen since 2004/05. Among staff who had teaching responsibilities, the figures were 10.5% and 57.1% respectively, so fixed-term contracts were far commoner for part-time than for full-time teaching staff. For female staff who had teaching responsibilities, the figures were 13.1% and 53.6% 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 relative terms in the proportions for part-time staff.

81.3% of teaching-only staff were part-time, compared with 16.9% for research-only staff and 15.3% 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), reported under the name ‘The University of Wales Registry’ prior to 2004/05.

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 previous volumes, this comparison was made on previously published figures, not on figures calculated from re-stated accounts. This year it has been brought into line with the overall policy of using re-stated accounts. The number of institutions reported as being in balance or surplus in the 2004/05 volume was 124. The figure for institutions in deficit in both years has always been calculated from re-stated accounts.

4 There is a very small discrepancy between the 1 December 2004 figures in Table Mi in this volume and in Table M in the 2004/05 volume. This results from a few cases where the same individual (probably with a joint appointment) was counted in 2004/05 at two separate institutions that have subsequently merged.