ADVICE TO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES

Government plays a crucial role in every country's higher education system, even those where much provision is financed privately. Higher education today is simply too important to national success for Governments to ignore. But form of Government intervention is crucial: it can be designed so as to encourage the development of dynamic and efficient institutions, pursuing a diversity of missions but each seeking high quality; while poorly-planned intervention can stifle initiative and lead to high-cost and low-quality provision.

Universitas has worked with Education Ministries and other government agencies responsible for higher education planning and management in a number of countries. Our consultants draw on experience gained with the UK government agencies dealing with higher education planning and funding; and in working in senior management positions within colleges and universities, having to respond to external planning and funding initiatives.

Issues on which we have worked include:

• developing formulae for the allocation of funds to universities to achieve stated government policy objectives (often described as normative funding)
• advising the government agencies concerned on how these formulae should be operated, on the structure of their own organisation, and on how they should interact with the institutions which they fund
• advice on developing assessment methods for teaching and research which can allow funding to take account of success in these areas.
• advice on finance of student facilities to achieve cost-effective and equitable provision.