The UK government will “protect the entire research budget” and go ahead with plans to increase it to £20 billion by 2024, while refocusing investment zones so they are centred on universities in “left-behind areas” building growth sectors, the chancellor has announced.
Jeremy Hunt delivered better-than-expected news for universities when he presented the autumn statement on 17 November.
However, he did also announce that growth in departmental budgets would slow to 1 per cent a year for three years once the current spending review period is over – meaning that although the government announced increases for the core schools budget, the rest of the Department for Education’s spending, including on higher education, will be under pressure.
