What recurrent grants are allocated to universities? What do they comprise?
- The Government allocates recurrent subventions to the eight UGC-funded universities in the form of a block grant, normally on a triennial basis, to tie in with the triennial academic planning cycle of the UGC-funded universities. The recurrent subventions are allocated with a view to funding the universities' teaching and research in pursuing their respective roles and missions, and can be flexibly deployed by the universities under the principle of institutional autonomy. The Cash Limit for the entire UGC-funded sector for the 2022/23 to 2024/25 triennium (i.e. 2022-25 triennium) is about $63.2 billion, which comprises three components according to their purposes as follows -
- Allocation for teaching purpose
- Allocation for research purpose
- Allocation for professional activity
| Purpose of allocation | Percentage Share |
|---|---|
| Teaching | About 78% |
| Research | About 20% |
| Professional Activity | About 2% |
Teaching is an indispensable duty and mission of the eight UGC-funded universities. The bulk of the block grant is therefore allocated for teaching purpose. The allocation for teaching purpose to each university is calculated on the basis of the numbers of student places determined by the Government, levels of study (i.e. sub-degree, undergraduate, taught postgraduate and research postgraduate), modes of study (i.e. part-time and full-time) and disciplines of study, etc. As the teaching of some subjects require special equipment, laboratories or are more staff-teaching time intensive, their teaching costs are higher and would be reflected in the determination of the funding allocation for each of the universities. Generally, only pay adjustments will be made to each year's block grant within the triennium.
The allocation for research purpose is disbursed by the UGC to the eight UGC-funded universities as infrastructure funding to enable the universities to provide staffing and facilities (e.g. accommodation and equipment) necessary for research and to fund a certain level of research activities. To promote research excellence, the UGC is progressively allocating the Research Portion on a more competitive approach, based on the results of the universities' performances in the Research Assessment Exercise1 as well as in obtaining grants under the RGC designated funding schemes.
This part of the allocation is intended to fund professional activities not covered by the above-mentioned teaching and research allocation, and is calculated primarily based on the number of academic staff.