Reprieve for universities that failed to fill places

By John Morgan. Universities that failed to fill undergraduate places this year will not generally be hit with cuts to their student number allocation next year, unless their shortfalls were "extreme", England's funding council has announced.
In a circular letter sent to institutions this week, the Higher Education Funding Council for England says the approach was decided because "due to transient effects from the introduction of the new fee regime, 2012-13 might be an atypical year for recruitment".
The announcement on 18 December marks a reverse from previous Hefce guidance. In March, Hefce told institutions that where they "recruit significantly below their student number control limit in 2012-13, this may lead to a reduction to their baseline control limit for future years".
The announcement is a signal that student recruitment under the first year of £9,000 fees has proved more problematic than Hefce expected. Read more...