UK: Universities over-claiming millions

07 June 2009

Universities are over-claiming millions of pounds of public funding for students who they fail to recruit or who drop out, reports Julie Henry for The Telegraph. Almost £100 million has been overpaid over the last eight years, with some institutions claiming in excess of £1 million more than they are entitled to because of miscalculations in student numbers.

The institutions include Lincoln, Huddersfield, Anglia Ruskin, Thames Valley, Leeds Metropolitan, Birmingham City and Hertfordshire Universities.

The figures, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal that mechanisms for predicting how many students will start each year and go on to finish courses are wildly inaccurate at some institutions. In the most extreme case, London Metropolitan University was over paid £36 million between 2005 and 2008, which is now being clawed back by the Higher Education Funding Council, leaving the institution in financial turmoil.
Full report on The Telegraph site

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