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Introduction - Resources 2006/07

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 2006/07 that is, the period 1 August 2006 to 31 July 2007. It covers data supplied by 170 HEIs (133 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. Two institutions, Guildhall School of Music and Drama and Heythrop College, are included for the first time in 2006/07. 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 Institutions. 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 FECs.

HESA also publishes annually two Statistical First Releases within the National Statistics framework. Detailed data for institutional planning purposes is published on CD (HE Planning Plus and HE Finance Plus). Research Data Packs 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 now 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 £1,451 million.3

There has been an increase of £640 million in short-term borrowing and an increase of £582 million in short-term investments.

Income and expenditure

Income during the year amounted to £21.3 billion.

The surplus of income over expenditure was £224 million.

Sources of income

Funding council grants increased by £483 million (6.4%).

The amount of income received from tuition fees and education grants & contracts increased by 16.0%. Income from full-time Home/EU domiciled undergraduate students provided 42.3% of the income in this category, and that from overseas (non-EU) students provided 31.6%.

Research Councils provided 34.1% of research grants & contracts, the largest share of the total.

Expenditure

The £1,695 million (8.8%) rise in total expenditure was the result of broadly similar percentage rises in each of the two large components, staff costs (£971 million, 8.7%) and other operating expenses (£658 million, 9.6%), but there were smaller percentage increases in depreciation, and interest payable.

Balance sheet

A comparison of the HE sector’s balance sheet at 31 July 2007 with that at 31 July 2006 (both as stated in the 2006/07 accounts in Table A below) shows a £640 million increase in short-term creditors while amounts due after more than one year have increased by £305 million. There was an increase of £104 million in debtors.

The value of tangible assets has increased by £1,451 million,3 and endowment assets have increased by £313 million (8.9%). Endowments (specific and general) have also increased by £313 million from last year, compared with an increase of £335 million from 2005 to 2006.

Table A - Balance sheet(#6)
  Balance (£ thousands) as at 31 July
  2007 2006 Change % change
Fixed assets
Intangible assets* -16939 -2955 -13984 ..
Tangible assets* 22476061 21024880 1451181 ..
Investments 1096875 915836 181039 19.8%
Total* 23529950 21865291 1664659 ..
Endowment assets 3837515 3524750 312765 8.9%
Current assets
Stock 109569 86552 23017 26.6%
Debtors 2496668 2392239 104429 4.4%
Investments 2634178 2051744 582434 28.4%
Cash at bank & in hand 1443182 1348486 94696 7.0%
Total 6683597 5879021 804576 13.7%
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 5348980 4708553 640427 13.6%
Net current assets 1334617 1170468 164149 14.0%
Total assets less current liabilities 29323711 27128775 2194936 8.1%
Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year 4054890 3750191 304699 8.1%
Provisions for liabilities & charges 310563 288461 22102 7.7%
Net assets excluding pension asset/liability 24958258 23090123 1868135 8.1%
Pension asset/liability -1684529 -2387554 703025 -29.4%
Net assets including pension asset/liability 23273729 20702569 2571160 12.4%
Deferred capital grants 7908112 7016791 891321 12.7%
Endowments
Specific 3216488 2947206 269282 9.1%
General 621500 577548 43952 7.6%
Total 3837988 3524754 313234 8.9%
Reserves 11527629 10161024 1366605 13.4%
Total 23273729 20702569 2571160 12.4%
# see relevant footnote in Notes to tables.

* The 2006 comparative tangible and intangible asset values were transposed in error within the University of Manchester 2006/07 HESA Finance Record return. Therefore, data for the University of Manchester have been excluded from these figures. The correct figures for the University of Manchester are as follows: 2007: Intangible assets £260,000; Tangible assets £595,322,000; 2006: Intangible assets £165,000; Tangible assets £495,631,000. Including these corrected figures within the sector totals results in the following totals: 2007: Intangible assets -£16,679,000; Tangible assets £23,071,383,000; Total fixed assets £24,125,532,000; 2006: Intangible assets -£2,790,000; Tangible assets £21,520,511,000; Total fixed assets £22,361,087,000. The percentage change for Total fixed assets (including the corrected University of Manchester figures) is therefore 7.9%.

The Intangible Assets values are materially different from those in the 2005/06 publication. This is due to a number of institutions transposing Intangible and Tangible Assets in last year’s figures (in the same way that the University of Manchester has done this year); these transpositions have been corrected in the restated accounts.

The negative figures within Intangible Assets are attributable to Negative Goodwill within institutional accounts.

Income and expenditure

The income of the HE sector totalled £21.3 billion during the financial year to 31 July 2007; this compares with £19.5 billion for the previous year. The surplus of income over expenditure increased from £161 million in 2005/06 to £224 million in 2006/07.

Table B - Total income and expenditure, financial years 2006/07 and 2005/06(#6)
      (£ thousands)
  2006/07 2005/06 % change
Income 21271062 19513704 9.0%
Expenditure 21047481 19352832 8.8%
Surplus/(deficit) for the year 223581 160872 39.0%
Surplus/deficit as percentage of income 1% 1%  
# 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 2006/07

The number of institutions reporting a surplus or breakeven was 127 out of 170 in 2006/07, compared with 119 out of 169 in 2005/06.4 Deficits in both financial years were reported by 27 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. 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 2006/07     Financial Year 2005/06
Location of Institution Income Expenditure Surplus/ (deficit) for the year % of income   Income Expenditure Surplus/ (deficit) for the year % of income
England 17576943 17426524 150419 0.9%   16106087 15997744 108343 0.7%
Wales 1001141 978416 22725 2.3%   922800 910063 12737 1.4%
Scotland 2258373 2223658 34715 1.5%   2078558 2050244 28314 1.4%
Northern Ireland 434605 418883 15722 3.6%   406259 394781 11478 2.8%
Total 21271062 21047481 223581 1.1%   19513704 19352832 160872 0.8%
# 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)
  2006/07 2005/06 % change
Funding council grants 8030651 7547846 6.4%
Tuition fees & education grants & contracts 5413985 4667135 16.0%
Research grants & contracts 3376991 3137561 7.6%
Other income 4077385 3830658 6.4%
Endowment & investment income 390841 345213 13.2%
Total income* 21289853 19528413 9.0%
Share of the above income from joint ventures ** -18791 -14709 27.8%
Total income less income from joint ventures 21271062 19513704 9.0%
# 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 to total income.

Sources of income 2002/03 to 2006/07

 

Funding council grants represent a 37.7% proportion of total income. Tuition fees & education grants & contracts represent a 25.4% proportion of total income. Compared to 2005/06, the first of these proportions has fallen by 1.0% and the second has risen by 1.5%. The breakdown in Table D 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 Welsh Assembly Government (WAG).

Table E - Breakdown of funding council grants 2006/07
    (£ thousands)
    % of total
HE Provision(#7)
Recurrent (teaching) 5358952 66.7%
Recurrent (research) 1671653 20.8%
Recurrent - other (inc. special funding) 602058 7.5%
Release of deferred capital grants - buildings 153506 1.9%
Release of deferred capital grants - equipment 132115 1.6%
FE provision(#8) 112367 1.4%
Total funding council grants 8030651 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 16.0% this year to £5.41 billion from £4.67 billion in 2005/06. Much of this increase is attributable to the introduction of new fee arrangements in 2006/07. The breakdown in Table F differs from that in previous years because the previous breakdown is no longer compatible with the different fee systems in each of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. Income from full-time Home/EU domiciled undergraduate students provided 42.3% of the income in this category, and that from overseas (non-EU) students provided 31.6%.

Table F - Income from tuition fees and education grants and contracts 2006/07
    (£ thousands)
    % of total
HE course fees
Home & EU domicile students
Full-time undergraduate 2290949 42.3%
Full-time postgraduate 467838 8.6%
Part-time undergraduate 245629 4.5%
Part-time postgraduate 266291 4.9%
Non-EU domicile students 1712730 31.6%
Sub-total HE course fees 4983437 92.0%
     
Non-credit-bearing course fees 307005 5.7%
FE course fees 28001 0.5%
Research training support grants 95542 1.8%
Total tuition fees & education grants & contracts 5413985 100.0%

Research grants and contracts

Research grants & contracts increased by 7.6% this year to £3.38 billion from £3.14 billion in 2005/06. The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS) Research Councils continue to be the largest providers by representing a 34.1% proportion of total research grants & contracts income.

Table G - Income from research grants and contracts 2006/07
    (£ thousands)
    % of total
DIUS Research Councils 1151979 34.1%
UK based charities 767490 22.7%
UK central government/local authorities, health & hospital authorities 606599 18.0%
UK industry, commerce & public corporations 289732 8.6%
EU government bodies 258094 7.6%
EU other 45897 1.4%
Other overseas 199069 5.9%
Other sources 58131 1.7%
Total research grants & contracts 3376991 100.0%

Other income

Income in this category increased by 6.4% this year to £4.08 billion from £3.83 billion in 2005/06.

Table H - Other income 2006/07
    (£ thousands)
    % of total
Other services rendered
UK central government bodies, local authorities, health & hospital authorities, EU government bodies 477598 11.7%
Other 836332 20.5%
Sub-total other services rendered 1313930 32.2%
     
Residences & catering operations (including conferences) 1233005 30.2%
Grants from local authorities 1464 0.0%
Income from health & hospital authorities (excluding teaching contracts for student provision) 330040 8.1%
Released from deferred capital grants 88651 2.2%
Income from intellectual property rights 33871 0.8%
Other operating income 1076424 26.4%
     
Total other income 4077385 100.0%

Expenditure

The 8.8% (£1,695 million) rise in expenditure to £21.0 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 smaller increase in depreciation, and in the smallest component, interest payable.

Table I - Expenditure, financial years ending 2006/07 and 2005/06(#6)
      (£ thousands)
  2006/07 2005/06 % change
Staff costs 12164531 11194007 8.7%
Other operating expenses 7549087 6890749 9.6%
Depreciation 1067523 1011845 5.5%
Interest payable 266340 256231 3.9%
Total 21047481 19352832 8.8%
# 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 41.1% proportion of total expenditure and residences and catering operations represent a proportion of just 5.4%.

Table J - Distribution of expenditure by activity 2006/07
    (£ thousands)
    % of total
Academic departments 8644229 41.1%
Academic services 1592589 7.6%
Administration & central services 2940327 14.0%
Premises 2376457 11.3%
Residences & catering operations (including conferences) 1132566 5.4%
Research grants & contracts 2866598 13.6%
Other expenditure 1494715 7.1%
Total expenditure 21047481 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 10.1% and 10.0% respectively, spending £876 million and £867 million in 2006/07. The social studies cost centre and nursing & paramedical studies cost centre have a 7.7% and 6.7% share of total expenditure respectively. They spent £666 million and £582 million in 2006/07. These numbers are derived from the Total UK row of Table 2d.

Staff data

The HESA Staff Return 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. 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.

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 2006/07 Staff data underlying this volume, will be available from April 2009, and the ‘Fixed Database’ for staff data underlying last year's Resources Reference Volume will be available from April 2008.

Summary of key points

In 2006/07 there were in total 242,620 (2005/06: 237,920; 2004/05: 234,440) full-time staff in the HE sector, of whom 45.9% (45.6%; 45.5%) were female, and 121,540 (117,495; 111,865) part-time staff, of whom 67.5% (67.8%; 67.9%) were female. Also, there were 180,710 (165,560; 164,550) atypical staff, of whom 50.9% (50.7%; 49.9%) were female. The increase in the number of atypical staff may be in part a reporting effect as institutions become progressively more familiar with this recently introduced reporting requirement.

Of all academic staff other than atypicals, 42.3% (41.9%; 41.2%) were female; for full time academic staff the proportion was 36.8% (36.6%; 36.1%) and for part-time academic staff, 53.3% (53.1%; 52.1%). The proportion of atypical academic staff who were female was 46.5% (46.7%; 45.3%).

The total (full-person-equivalent) number of academic staff other than atypicals was 169,995 (164,875; 160,655), of whom 113,685 (111,410; 109,625) were full-time, constituting 46.9% (46.8%; 46.8%) of all full-time staff, and 56,310 (53,465; 51,030) were part-time, constituting 46.3% (45.5%; 45.6%) of all part-time staff. There were 85,000 (80,930; 81,795) atypical academic staff, constituting 47.0% (48.9%; 49.7%) of all atypical staff. The number of full-time academic staff increased by 1.6% between 2004/05 and 2005/06, and by a further 2.0% between 2005/06 and 2006/07.

Of all full-time academic posts, 71.6% (71.8%; 72.0%) were wholly financed by the institutions themselves.

Teaching as a primary employment function was included in 70.8% (70.9%; 71.4%) of full-time and 87.8% (87.2%; 86.3%) of part-time academic posts.

The average age of full-time academic staff was 42.9 (42.8; 42.7), and 41.1% (40.7%; 40.6%) were aged over 45.

Ethnicity was reported for 90.7 % (89.7%; 89.5%) of all full- and part-time staff. Of those of known ethnicity, 9.9% (9.6%; 9.2%) were drawn from ethnic minority groups. For academic staff the percentages were 89.7% (88.5%; 88.1%) and 11.0% (10.7%; 10.4%). 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 51.8% (47.7%; 40.7%) of atypical staff, and, of those of known ethnicity, 16.0% (15.7%; 15.4%) were from ethnic minority groups.

Disability status was reported for 92.4% (91.9%; 90.5%) of all full- and part-time staff, and of those of known disability status, 2.6% (2.4%; 2.4%) had a disability. For full- and part-time academic staff, the percentages were 92.4% (91.6%; 90.0%) and 2.2% (2.1%; 2.1%). For atypical staff, the percentages were 75.7% (73.7%; 73.0%) and 1.3% (1.2%; 1.0%).

Among full-time academic staff, the proportion of Professors who were female was 17.4% (16.5%; 15.8%); of Senior lecturers & researchers, 34.0% (30.8%; 29.0%); of Lecturers, 42.8% (42.6%; 41.8%) and of Researchers, 41.6% (42.1%; 42.2%).

Of all full-time academic staff, 26.3% (26.1%; 26.0%) were employed in medicine, dentistry, or health.

Of all research-only staff, 77.8% (84.7%; 88.9%) 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) 2006/07
  Full-time       Part-time       Atypical
  Female      Male      Total        Female      Male      Total        Female      Male      Total     
All activities 111445 131175 242620   82055 39485 121540   92055 88040 180710
Managers 5870 6700 12570   1065 335 1400   95 245 335
Academic professionals 41875 71810 113685   30040 26270 56310   39515 45230 85000
Non-academic professionals 9900 9335 19230   3635 1175 4810   4220 4555 8785
Laboratory, engineering, building, IT & medical technicians (including nurses) 6480 16230 22705   2915 1365 4280   1910 2955 4865
Student welfare workers, careers advisors, vocational training instructors, personnel & planning officers 4075 1820 5895   2355 490 2850   3975 2140 6120
Artistic, media, public relations, marketing & sports occupations 2170 1895 4060   1015 430 1445   2645 1895 4545
Library assistants, clerks & general administrative assistants 25135 7335 32465   16515 3620 20130   25270 18905 44510
Secretaries, typists, receptionists & telephonists 10905 875 11785   6500 395 6895   2645 2120 4765
Chefs, gardeners, electrical & construction trades, mechanical fitters & printers 590 4085 4670   290 170 455   310 310 620
Caretakers, residential wardens, sports & leisure attendants, nursery nurses & care occupations 1215 1685 2895   1480 655 2135   1350 1090 2440
Retail & customer service occupations 360 190 550   455 110 570   720 445 1165
Drivers, maintenance supervisors & plant operatives 125 1085 1210   115 100 215   175 345 520
Cleaners, catering assistants, security officers, porters & maintenance workers 2750 8140 10890   15680 4365 20045   9230 7815 17050
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 2006/07 (that is, on 1 December 2006) there were in total 242,620 full-time staff, of whom 45.9% were female, 121,540 part-time staff, of whom 67.5% were female, and 180,710 atypical staff, of whom 50.9% were female. Of the full-time staff, 46.9% were academic (group 2 in detailed tabulations), 26.6% were managerial, professional and technical (groups 1, 3, 4, 5, 6), 18.2% were secretarial and clerical (groups 7, 8), and 8.3% were manual (groups 9, 10, 11, 12, 13). The corresponding figures for part-time staff were 46.3%, 12.2%, 22.2% and 19.3%, and for atypical staff, 47.0%, 13.6%, 27.3% and 12.1%. 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.

42.3% of all academic staff other than atypicals were female. Women comprised 36.8% of those working full-time and 53.3% of those working part-time. Of atypical academic staff, 46.5% 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 2006/07
  Full-time Part-time Total
Mode of employment 113685 56310 169995
Gender
Female 41875 30040 71920
Male 71810 26270 98075
Source of salary
Wholly institutionally financed 81415 49580 130995
Other sources of finance 32270 6730 39000
Academic employment function
Teaching only 7740 35390 43130
Teaching & research 72735 14065 86795
Research only 31800 6375 38175
Neither teaching nor research 1410 480 1890
Grade
Professors 14915 1570 16485
Senior lecturers & researchers 28970 4680 33650
Lecturers 31145 20785 51930
Researchers 30770 5970 36740
Other grades 7880 23310 31190
Terms of employment
Open-ended/permanent 81525 24710 106235
Fixed-term contract 32160 31600 63760
In this table 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest multiple of 5.

In 2006/07, the total number of academic staff other than atypicals employed by UK HEIs was 169,995, of whom 113,685, or 66.9% 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.

71.6% of full-time academic posts were wholly financed by the institutions themselves, this proportion rising to 88.0% for part-time posts.

70.8% of full-time academic posts and 87.8% 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 comparable with Table M in the volume for 2004/05. Both tables are comparable with those for 2005/06.

Table Mi - Full-time academic staff inflows and outflows 2005/06 to 2006/07 Headcount
  Total
Full-time academic staff at 1 December 2005 111650
Full-time academic staff at 1 December 2005 who are part-time academic at 1 December 2006 2930
Full-time academic staff at 1 December 2005 who are neither full-time nor part-time academic at 1 December 2006 15260
of which…
Other UK HEI 2120
Not other UK HEI (outflow) 13140
UK 2040
Non-UK 1125
Not in regular employment 1035
Retirement 1030
Death 90
Other/unknown 7820
   
Full-time academic staff at 1 December in both years 93455
Full-time academic staff at 1 December 2006 who were neither full-time nor part-time academic at 1 December 2005 18195
of which…
Other UK HEI 4255
Not other UK HEI (inflow) 13940
UK 6650
Non-UK 3670
Not in regular employment 300
Unknown 3320
Full-time academic staff at 1 December 2006 who were part-time academic at 1 December 2005 2245
Full-time academic staff at 1 December 2006 113895
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 2005/06 and 2006/07. Starting from the number of full-time academic staff as at 1 December 2005, the number who can also be identified as full-time at the same institution on 1 December 2006 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 2006 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 111,650 to 113,895 during the year, an increase of 2.0%. Of those in post as at 1 December 2006, 93,455, or 82.1%, were full-time (and a further 2,245, or 2.0%, 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 2005/06 to 2006/07 Headcount
  Total
Part-time academic staff at 1 December 2005 54180
Part-time academic staff at 1 December 2005 who are full-time academic at 1 December 2006 2245
Part-time academic staff at 1 December 2005 who are neither full-time nor part-time academic at 1 December 2006 14165
of which…
Other UK HEI 575
Not other UK HEI (outflow) 13590
UK 1305
Non-UK 200
Not in regular employment 745
Retirement 405
Death 35
Other/unknown 10900
   
Part-time academic staff at 1 December in both years 37770
Part-time academic staff at 1 December 2006 who were neither full-time nor part-time academic at 1 December 2005 16425
of which…
Other UK HEI 2400
Not other UK HEI (inflow) 14030
UK 5980
Non-UK 885
Not in regular employment 505
Unknown 6655
   
Part-time academic staff at 1 December 2006 who were full-time academic at 1 December 2005 2930
Part-time academic staff at 1 December 2006 57125
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 54,180 to 57,125 during the year, an increase of 5.4%. Of those in post as at 1 December 2006, 37,770, or 66.1%, were part-time (and a further 2,930, or 5.1%, 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 volume for 2003/04; Table Nii no longer appears as from 2005/06.

Table N - Full-time academic staff by grade and age 2006/07
  Professors Senior lecturers & researchers Lecturers Researchers Other grades Total
25 & under 0 15 180 2015 310 2525
26-30 10 380 2665 9850 715 13620
31-35 110 1865 5955 8190 800 16920
36-40 855 4495 6040 4565 885 16840
41-45 2155 5830 5205 2685 1120 17005
46-50 2885 5540 4210 1585 1230 15450
51-55 3345 5040 3505 1030 1315 14240
56-60 3715 4305 2585 600 1130 12330
61-65 1715 1450 765 205 320 4455
66 & over 120 40 30 35 50 275
Unknown 0 5 5 10 5 30
Total 14915 28970 31145 30770 7880 113685
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, 41.1% were aged over 45 and 12.5% were aged between 51 and 55. 36.5% of senior lecturers & researchers were aged between 46 and 55, and 47.4% of professors were aged between 51 and 60. 80.0% of researchers were aged 40 years or under.

The average age of full-time academic staff was 42.9 and of part-time staff, 44.7 [from Table 23a]. The average age of atypical academic staff was 40.4 [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 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 2006/07
  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) 364165 330185 90.7% 32575 9.9%
Academic staff 169995 152405 89.7% 16705 11.0%
Full-time 113685 104700 92.1% 12460 11.9%
Part-time 56310 47710 84.7% 4245 8.9%
Non-academic staff total 194170 177780 91.6% 15870 8.9%
Full-time 128935 119900 93.0% 9565 8.0%
Part-time 65230 57880 88.7% 6305 10.9%
Managerial, professional and technical staff 79250 73445 92.7% 5430 7.4%
Full-time 64470 60040 93.1% 4465 7.4%
Part-time 14785 13405 90.7% 965 7.2%
Clerical staff 71275 66330 93.1% 6170 9.3%
Full-time 44250 41935 94.8% 3830 9.1%
Part-time 27025 24395 90.3% 2340 9.6%
Manual staff 43640 38010 87.1% 4270 11.2%
Full-time 20220 17930 88.7% 1270 7.1%
Part-time 23420 20080 85.7% 3000 14.9%
Atypical staff 180710 93560 51.8% 15005 16.0%
Academic 85000 42780 50.3% 5085 11.9%
Non-academic 95710 50780 53.1% 9920 19.5%
Managerial, professional and technical staff 24650 15170 61.5% 2270 15.0%
Clerical staff 49275 24030 48.8% 5055 21.0%
Manual staff 21785 11580 53.2% 2595 22.4%
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, 90.7% 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 11.0% than among non-academic staff at 8.9%.

Ethnicity was reported for only 51.8% 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 47.7% in 2005/06 and 40.7% in 2004/05, that being the first year of availability of the data. Of those atypical staff of known ethnicity, 16.0% 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 2006/07
  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) 364165 336575 92.4% 8630 2.6%
Academic staff 169995 157085 92.4% 3515 2.2%
Full-time 113685 106090 93.3% 2335 2.2%
Part-time 56310 51000 90.6% 1180 2.3%
Non-academic staff total 194170 179490 92.4% 5115 2.9%
Full-time 128935 120440 93.4% 3470 2.9%
Part-time 65230 59050 90.5% 1645 2.8%
Managerial, professional & technical staff 79250 74275 93.7% 2180 2.9%
Full-time 64470 60545 93.9% 1750 2.9%
Part-time 14785 13730 92.9% 425 3.1%
Clerical staff 71275 66175 92.8% 1785 2.7%
Full-time 44250 41510 93.8% 1100 2.6%
Part-time 27025 24665 91.3% 690 2.8%
Manual staff 43640 39040 89.5% 1155 3.0%
Full-time 20220 18385 90.9% 620 3.4%
Part-time 23420 20655 88.2% 535 2.6%
Atypical staff 180710 136790 75.7% 1815 1.3%
Academic 85000 64510 75.9% 780 1.2%
Non-academic 95710 72280 75.5% 1035 1.4%
Managerial, professional & technical staff 24650 21020 85.3% 305 1.4%
Clerical staff 49275 33735 68.5% 505 1.5%
Manual staff 21785 17525 80.4% 225 1.3%
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 92.4% of all full- and part-time staff. Of those of known disability status, 2.6% had a disability. For full- and part-time academic staff, the percentages were 92.4% and 2.2%. For atypical staff the percentages were 75.7% and 1.3%.

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 2006/07
  Source of salary
  Wholly institutionally financed All other sources of finance Total
Professors 13475 1445 14915
Female 2330 270 2600
Male 11145 1175 12320
Senior lecturers & researchers 26240 2725 28970
Female 8685 1155 9840
Male 17555 1570 19125
Lecturers 28300 2850 31145
Female 12055 1285 13335
Male 16245 1565 17810
Researchers 6745 24025 30770
Female 2815 9980 12795
Male 3930 14045 17975
Other grades 6660 1225 7880
Female 2730 575 3305
Male 3930 650 4580
Total 81415 32270 113685
In this table 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest multiple of 5.

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 21.9% 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 17.4%; of senior lecturers & researchers, 34.0%; of Lecturers, 42.8%; and of researchers, 41.6%.

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 2006/07
  Wholly institutionally financed     All other sources of finance
  Female Male Total   Female Male Total
Cost centres 28615 52800 81415   13265 19005 32270
Medicine, dentistry & health 8360 8140 16500   7060 6350 13410
Agriculture, forestry & veterinary science 395 850 1245   245 250 495
Biological, mathematical & physical sciences 2315 8705 11020   3130 6130 9260
Engineering & technology 1780 9800 11580   885 4015 4900
Architecture & planning 410 1300 1710   90 170 260
Administrative, business & social studies 6415 12115 18530   905 1115 2020
Humanities & language based studies & archaeology 3590 5120 8715   455 530 985
Design, creative & performing arts 1560 2765 4320   70 90 160
Education 3165 3065 6230   320 230 550
Academic services 235 295 525   55 55 110
Administration & central services 385 645 1030   45 70 115
Premises 0 0 0   0 0 0
Residences & catering operations 5 0 10   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.

36.8% of female and 20.2% of male full-time academic staff worked in medicine, dentistry & health. The biological, mathematical & physical science departments accounted for 20.7% of male full-time academic staff.

44.8% of full-time academic staff in medicine, dentistry & health and 45.7% 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 (3.6%), education (8.1%), administrative, business and social studies (9.8%), and humanities and language based studies and archaeology (10.2%), together with administration and central services (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, mode and terms of employment 2006/07
  Full-time     Part-time
  Open-ended/ permanent Fixed-term contract Total   Open-ended/ permanent Fixed-term contract Total
Teaching only 5865 1875 7740   14015 21375 35390
Female 2860 930 3785   7235 10590 17825
Male 3005 950 3955   6780 10785 17565
Teaching & research 67500 5235 72735   9195 4870 14065
Female 22320 2130 24450   5530 2195 7725
Male 45180 3105 48285   3665 2675 6340
Research only 7095 24705 31800   1365 5010 6375
Female 2815 10315 13130   995 3215 4210
Male 4280 14390 18670   370 1795 2160
Neither teaching nor research 1070 340 1410   140 340 480
Female 375 135 510   100 180 280
Male 695 205 900   40 165 200
Total 81525 32160 113685   24710 31600 56310
In this table 0, 1, 2 are rounded to 0. All other numbers are rounded up or down to the nearest multiple of 5.

At 77.7% for full-time staff and 78.6% for part-time staff, fixed-term contracts were the norm among research-only staff regardless of mode of employment, although these percentages continue to fall. Among staff who had teaching responsibilities, the figures were 8.8% and 53.1% respectively, so fixed-term contracts were far commoner for part-time then for full-time teaching staff. For female staff who had teaching responsibilities, the figures were 10.8% and 50.0% 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.

82.1% of teaching-only staff were part-time, compared with 16.7% for research-only staff and 16.2% 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 The 2006 comparative tangible and intangible asset values were transposed in error within the University of Manchester 2006/07 HESA Finance Record return. Therefore, these figures exclude data for the University of Manchester.

4 In volumes prior to 2005/06, this comparison was made on previously published figures, not on figures calculated from re-stated accounts. From 2005/06 it has been brought into line with the overall policy of using re-stated accounts. Heythrop College, one of two institutions newly included in the Resources volume, provided re-stated accounts for 2005/06 as well as data for 2006/07.