NARIC guide on Higher Education Systems in the European Union

I. Higher education system
Altogether about 600 institutions in Great Britain and Northern Ireland offer higher education courses, that is courses leading
to qualifications of a standard higher than the general certificate of education advanced level and its equivalents, but over 90%
of higher education is provided in the 88 publicly funded university institutions (including the Open University), the one
private university, and the 80 other larger colleges.
With the exception of the University of Buckingham, all the institutions of higher education receive their principal funding
from central government via the Department for Education and Employment (DFEE). Those funded by central government
include the universities, established by royal charter and by statute, and a range of grant-aided institutions, including the
voluntary colleges (mainly religious foundations) in England and Wales and the colleges of education in Scotland.
Higher Education Funding Council For England (HEFCE)
The HEFCE was established in May 1992 under the further and higher education act 1992. Its principal task is to distribute
funds made available by the government for the provision of education and the undertaking of research by higher education
institutions in England.
The HEFCE works closely with the higher education funding councils which were established at the same time for Scotland
(SHEFC) and Wales (HEFCW) and the Department of Education for Northern Ireland (DENI)
Business and Technology Education Council (BTEC)
BTEC approves vocational programmes, at sub-degree level, run by colleges and schools, and awards qualifications, which
are recognised by employers, educationalists and professional bodies throughout the United Kingdom.
National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ)
The NCVQ is not concerned with examining or validating, but only with the accreditation of vocational qualifications for
entry to and progress within higher education and higher level professional qualifications.
It is perhaps worth noting how British universities enjoy an exceptional degree of freedom of action from the State. In
addition to determining the curricula and the manner in which they will be assessed (in collaboration with the professional
bodies in medicine, law, engineering, etc., from whom they seek exemptions), universities appoint staff and determine
conditions of service, select students within the constraints imposed on numbers, choose their own programmes of research
and allocate income as they see fit to teaching or research or other areas of expenditure (except capital expenditure).
The face of the higher education system in the UK has undergone a radical change with the implementation of the further and
higher education act 1992. This act abolished the binary line between polytechnics and universities. It gave the polytechnic
institutions the right to award their own degrees and, with the consent of the Privy Council (a formal body which advises the
Queen), to call themselves universities. All the polytechnics and a small number of colleges of higher education have grasped
this opportunity to become universities and changed their names.
The 1992 act also saw the dissolution of the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA), the role of which was to
validate awards in the non-university sector. The Open University has since taken over this role for the institutes of higher
education which do not, as yet, have degree-awarding status themselves. In addition to the Open University, some universities,
for example Surrey and Brunel, are also performing this function.
I.1. The institutions of higher education
Higher education is offered at universities, colleges and institutes of higher education.
Higher education institutions exist to promote science and the arts through study, scholarship and research, teaching and
training in communities of like-minded people.