University Grants Committee and Universities Funding Council: Returns and Statistics

Returns from Universities and University Colleges in receipt of grants. These returns give details of governing bodies, faculties, regulations, degrees, staff, students, finance and expenditure. The early returns were published. In 1967 the title of the returns was changed to Statistics of Education volume 6: Universities.

The returns contain a variety of information on the cost per student in each institution, the ages of admission and the type of education received. The returns also record the amount of annual and non recurrent grants made in one financial year.

The statistics of education volume 6 (universities) first published in 1968 replaced the return from universities and university colleges in receipt of Treasury grants. From 1980 there are three volumes of university statistics published by the university statistical record. Volume one deals with students and staff, volume two deals with first appointment of graduates after gaining their qualifications and volume three deals with university finance.

• Universities Funding Council, 1988-1993
• University Grants Committee, 1919-1988

The creation of the University Grants Committee in 1919, presented a suitable opportunity to introduce a uniform system for presenting the chief facts and figures relating to the universities and colleges of the whole country. This was done with the co-operation of the institutions concerned and a schedule of enquiry was established on which the present returns are based.

A uniform financial year was established extending from 1 August to 31 July. It covered the operations of the academic financial year and allowed for the preparation of statistics and auditing of accounts before the pressure of administrative business in the following session became insistent. There were two exceptions to this uniform financial year; the University of London and the University of Wales.

This uniform financial year continued until 1965 when information collected on students and staff was obtained at the end of the autumn term and not the end of the academic year. This resulted in the financial information for one year being published at the same time as the information about staff and student numbers from the following year.