Agreement on institutional designation

1. This letter provides the final version of the agreement on institutional designation. This agreement applies to those higher education institutions (HEIs) and further education colleges (FECs) that receive HEFCE funding. It is effective from 1 August 2014 and runs to 31 July 2017.
2. In February, Universities UK, GuildHE and the Association of Colleges consulted their members on a proposed agreement on institutional designation. The purpose of this proposed agreement was to:

• make a more explicit link between current institutional accountability requirements and automatic designation for student support for institutions receiving HEFCE funding
• set out a process for addressing non-compliance with accountability measures, drawing on HEFCE’s current process for institutional support.

3. The terms of the agreement were drawn from those in HEFCE’s financial memorandum (to be renamed the memorandum of assurance and accountability from August 2014), and thus do not represent an increase in accountability. More...