Principal and Vice Chancellor of the University of Dundee Sir Alan Langlands today welcomed the annual funding announcement from the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council which again gives Dundee a significantly above average increase in grants for the year 2001-02.
"The figures announced today are better than we had expected. We are pleased to note that the resources for Teaching and Research to the University of Dundee are up by 6.2%, which compares well with an average 5.3% increase across the board. The rise represents an increase for us of £2.9m. By far the lion's share - £2.1m - of that rise is in the total grants for teaching.
The increase of 4% in core units of resource is particularly gratifying, but we have also done well out of the allocations to increase funded places for part time undergraduates, to promote wider access, in which we have a strong record of achievement, and to support our disabled students.
It is also good to see the healthy rise received by the sector in the research allocations, which in our case takes this component of the SHEFC grant to £10.8m."
He noted however, while welcoming the above average increase for the University of Dundee, that the new allocations must be weighed against the significant cost pressures and cutbacks in core funding which have been experienced over several years.
The announcement comes just weeks after the University of Dundee's strong performance in science and commercialisation was recognised with an allocation of an extra £8 million from a £75 million Scottish Executive funding package to strengthen the international competitiveness of the science research base in Scotland over the next three years. The size of that allocation - which put Dundee third in line behind Edinburgh and Glasgow - was made on research ratings and research income and highlights Dundee's reputation for making world beating science work for Scotland and the UK. Last year's research income from non-SHEFC sources was £31 million out of a total University turnover of £110 million, with about 55% coming from industry and UK based charities.