C22032 HE-BCI data collection - Notification of Changes

Sub-heading 1a of Table 1 is now labelled ‘UKRI (except Research England), Royal Society and British Academy’. This field does not include any funding streams that are solely Research England (RE) streams such as formula funding and related competitive programmes. Cross council programmes such as the Strength in Places Fund (SIPF) which are jointly administered by RE are eligible provided they meet the definition of collaborative research.

Funding from the European Space Agency should be returned under sub-heading '1d; Other'. It should not be returned under sub-heading ‘1c; EU Government’.

Where a contract spans multiple years, it must be returned for each academic year that it is active. The income associated with the contract should only be returned for the years in which it is received.

Income from collaborative contributions to research should be stated in published accounts or financial records. Where providers are part of a consortia, they should only return income that is recorded as a direct benefit to them. Collaborative contributions to a whole project rather than individual providers should not be returned. Consortia partners must ensure that income is not double counted.

Example

A consortium of 4 HEPs are working on a collaborative project with several external partners. Poppleton University is the lead HEP, but income is distributed between all the consortia partners as set out in the project agreement which states that 40% of grant income is retained by the lead HEP, and the remaining 60% is distributed equally between the consortia partners.

Grant in aid payment of £1m is made directly to Poppleton University as lead HEP, however Poppleton then make payments onto the other consortia partners.

Grant in aid income for the project should be reported to HE-BCI as follows:

Poppleton University (40%) - £400k

Partner HEP 1 (20%) - £200k

Partner HEP 2 (20%) - £200k

Partner HEP 3 (20%) - £200k

For the HE-BCI data collection, a not-for-profit organisation is a business that aims to do something other than to make profit for the owners, such as providing a public service or helping people. Once costs have been covered any surplus is reinvested into the business or used in other ways, for example, charities or social enterprises.

We have updated our references to the UK Charity Commissioners and Regulators. See the Charity Commission website for details of all registered charities in England and Wales, Charity Commission for Northern Ireland and OSCR (Scottish Charity Regulator).

The following exclusion has been added to the existing guidance:

Where CPD and CE may be offered as a package, only the income associated with the tuition/teaching provision may be returned. For example, where a CPD package includes accommodation and travel costs these must be excluded from the reported income.

The following exclusion has been added to the existing guidance:

Pre-sessional qualifications that are not designed for learners already in work. For example, courses that are academic or language skills courses for pre-registered students should not be included.

Massive Open Online courses (MOOCs) can only be returned if the course content meets the definition of CPD or CE and is clearly aimed at professionals. Only the learner hours for those who have completed the courses should be recorded.

Where CPD/CE is delivered through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) learner hours should be the content delivery hours and considered as equivalent to the ‘contact time' for courses delivered in-person.

Following the launch of UKSPF (UK Shared Prosperity Fund) by the UK government to succeed the old EU structural funds, UKSPF income received by HEPs specifically supporting regeneration and development activities can be returned in HE-BCI.

UK Shared Prosperity Fund income should be returned as a sub-heading of 'UK Government regeneration funds'. It should be returned in row ‘1ci – UK Shared Prosperity Fund’.

Providers must return any income from SIPF or similar cross UKRI funding under the 1a 'UKRI (except Research England) Royal Society and British Academy' category in Table 1, providing the income meets the requirements for collaborative research.

Sub-heading 1e of Table 4 is now labelled ‘Number of patents filed by an external party naming the HEP as a co-applicant or staff as a named inventor’.

Patents should only be returned prior to assignment. Providers must omit patents from their cumulative portfolio figure once assigned. Assigned patents must be excluded from sub-headings 1b - Number of new patents applications filed in a year, 1c - Number of patents granted in a year and 1d - Cumulative patent portfolio.

Where a provider has filed a patent family which has then been assigned, they must not return subsequent new patent applications in this family. Applications for new patents to an assigned family must be excluded from sub-heading 1e; Number of patents filed by an external party naming the HEP as a co-applicant.

For the HE-BCI data collection, staff start-ups are defined as companies that the HEP has assisted in their creation of their venture. Start-ups must be formally registered, such as the incorporation of a limited company registered with Companies House.

Sole traders must have notified HMRC that they operate independently or in a business partnership.

Social Enterprises must be registered with a relevant body, for example with a Company Interest Company (CIC), co-operative or charity.

Where events are livestreamed, there must be a robust recording mechanism to record the number of watchers or attendees, for example where attendees are required to log in to a webinar.

Livestreamed events that are being broadcast to an open audience must not be included under sub-headings 1a to 1d and may only be recorded under sub-heading ‘1e - Other'.

Where providers can identify individual attendees, they must determine the overall number of individual attendees to a multi-day event. For example, if the same 50 people attend each day of an event that is run over the course of 5 days, a total of 50 attendees should be recorded.

Where a multi-day event is open by nature and it is not possible to know whether individuals have attended on more than one day, the totalled sum of attendees should be returned and providers do not need to account for repeat attendance.