However you look at this, it is a good year

Sir Brian Fender, Hefce

The chief executive of Hefce, Sir Brian Fender, said: "However you look at this, it is a good year, with more funding than has been given out in living memory".

The money will fund an extra 52,700 full and part-time places.

By 2010, the government wants half of all under 30s to have the opportunity to go to university.

It also aims to increase the number of people in higher education from low-income families.

Poorer students

A fund aimed at boosting the number of people from poorer backgrounds attending university is being increased from �36m to �47m.

The bulk of the money - �3.6bn - is allocated to teaching, while �888m will go on research.

The funding council said �80m was being set aside for improving staff pay - a commitment which has been welcomed by teaching unions.

Welcome

The Association of University Teachers says it is pleased by the announcement.

The union's General Secretary, David Triesman, said: "I hope that higher education funding has at last turned the corner and that we will see increased investment throughout the next period of the comprehensive spending review."

But the union said that 30 institutions faced a real terms cut in recurrent income from the funding council for the year ahead because they had failed to attract enough students.

David Triesman said: "I am concerned that university staff will pay the price of poorly managed student expansion where targets have been missed.

"Growth in student numbers requires careful financial planning and cannot be met by cutbacks or reductions in staff pay or conditions."

Record numbers

Hefce's Chief Executive, Sir Brian Fender, said some universities were having to work hard to fill all their places.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Education and Employment said there was a record number of students in higher education.

She said: "Popular courses are expanding and universities will receive, for the first time in 10 years, increased funding per student in the next academic year".

The table below shows the distribution of funds for teaching and research among English universities:

University	Total	% rise
Anglia Polytechnic University	42,368,283	5.5%
Aston University	25,699,945	6.6%
University of Bath	38,010,237	4.9%
Birkbeck College	22,764,999	6.8%
University of Birmingham	97,435,603	6.0%
Bournemouth University	29,339,744	6.1%
University of Bradford	33,210,538	3.0%
University of Brighton	37,962,200	4.9%
University of Bristol	78,613,161	4.9%
Brunel University	43,006,886	2.3%
University of Cambridge	134,172,266	2.5%
University of Central England in Birmingham	43,110,325	3.0%
University of Central Lancashire	56,270,826	4.6%
City University	23,536,504	7.1%
Coventry University	48,424,092	2.7%
De Montfort University	68,778,462	1.6%
University of Derby	31,771,677	2.8%
University of Durham	52,653,309	6.3%
University of East Anglia	32,160,510	3.3%
University of East London	37,551,276	0.5%
University of Essex	25,560,236	7.9%
University of Exeter	38,607,205	4.6%
Goldsmiths College	21,802,275	2.7%
University of Greenwich	49,835,794	2.7%
University of Hertfordshire	49,991,965	3.0%
University of Huddersfield	43,115,816	4.7%
University of Hull	40,126,220	5.3%
Imperial College	109,688,004	1.5%
Keele University	20,799,724	2.3%
University of Kent	32,325,464	5.6%
King's College London	101,481,122	4.4%
Kingston University	45,972,691	5.4%
Lancaster University	38,609,653	2.8%
University of Leeds	106,561,701	6.0%
Leeds Metropolitan University	55,053,432	5.8%
University of Leicester	45,870,253	2.7%
University of Lincolnshire	36,653,393	0.5%
University of Liverpool	80,493,602	4.3%
Liverpool John Moores University	58,449,131	3.1%
London Guildhall University	35,224,752	3.0%
Loughborough University	50,301,356	4.5%
University of Luton	28,521,308	0.5%
University of Manchester	103,594,008	3.6%
Manchester Inst. of Science&Techngy	36,872,753	2.5%
Manchester Metropolitan University	82,276,061	3.3%
Middlesex University	54,458,723	3.1%
University of Newcastle upon Tyne	74,509,733	5.3%
University of North London	39,370,837	3.3%
University of Northumbria	52,163,452	3.2%
University of Nottingham	81,548,085	8.9%
Nottingham Trent University	62,479,396	0.5%
Open University	137,906,031	8.9%
University of Oxford	133,740,434	2.4%
Oxford Brookes University	34,581,104	3.0%
University of Plymouth	64,838,247	4.4%
University of Portsmouth	51,519,432	3.4%
Queen Mary and Westfield	55,655,122	5.0%
University of Reading	43,667,948	1.9%
Royal Holloway University, London	25,470,828	3.2%
University of Salford	51,463,876	2.9%
University of Sheffield	86,911,841	5.0%
Sheffield Hallam University	67,565,385	2.3%
University of Southampton	78,478,986	6.7%
South Bank University	48,972,272	0.5%
Staffordshire University	50,209,105	4.3%
University of Sunderland	39,082,927	0.5%
University of Surrey	33,192,135	3.5%
University of Sussex	39,527,630	2.5%
University of Teesside	35,053,727	9.6%
Thames Valley University	26,154,949	5.1%
University College London	128,617,882	2.4%
University of Warwick	51,413,298	5.8%
University of West of England, Bristol	57,450,383	2.5%
University of Westminster	54,871,608	3.3%
University of Wolverhampton	51,692,238	2.5%
University of York	35,286,984	5.0%

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