Department for Education and Skills: Lifelong Learning Directorate: Higher Education...

This series contains files on the Arts and Humanities Research Boards (AHRB) transition to the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The process started in 2001 and was completed in 2005. The AHRB was established in October 1998, by the three higher education funding councils for England, Scotland and Wales (HEFCE, SHEFC and HEFCW respectively), the Department for Employment and Learning (DEL) in Northern Ireland and the British Academy.

The records cover the Department for Education and Skills Higher Education Funding Organisation Division's Legislative strand which focused on the creation and development of the primary legislation as part of the Higher Education Bill and secondary legislation (devolution matters with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) through the House of Commons and the House of Lords.

This series is arranged alpha-nurmerically.

See also Arts and Humanities Research Council website in ST 2

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

The AHRB was established in 1998, following the Dearing Report which was published in 1997. According to the Dearing Report, the board would be subjected to a three-year review after its establishment. Whilst conducting this review in 2001, it was not only agreed that the AHRB would gain limited company status, but there was also a growing pressure for the board to transform into a council. This ideology of the conversion originated within the publishing of the Dearing Report; however, it was decided that the creation of a board would be more effective, compared to that of a council in 1998.

The concluding recommendations from the 2001 review was that it would be best for the board to develop from an interim body into an individual executive Arts and Humanities Research Council. Minister of Universities and Education, Margaret Hodge, approved this recommendation in principle in 2001 and, consequently, initiated the conversion. The transition to a UK-wide AHRC was managed and co-ordinated by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) Higher Education Funding Organisation Division (HEFOD). There were three strands within the transition: the Legislative strand (DfES led); the Financial strand (OST led) and the Administrative strand (AHRB led).

In 2002 a review panel recommended to the government that a UK-wide Arts and Humanities Research Council should be created and located alongside the other Research Councils in the Office of Science and Innovation (OST), part of the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills (DIUS).

In 2005, when the Arts and Humanities Research Board (AHRB) was successfully changed to the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), it was transferred from DfES to the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and placed under the Office of Science and Technology (OST).