The research assessment exercise is being overhauled

The Education Secretary, Charles Clarke, has confirmed that funding for departments given a 4 rating in the last national assessment exercise "will be held steady in cash terms" for 2004-05.

Funding is due to fall from �139m in 2002-03 to �118m for 2003-04.

Professor Roderick Floud, president of Universities UK, said that keeping the funding constant in cash terms "is effectively a consolidation of that cut".

'Honeyed words'

The Higher Education Funding Council for England said it was not surprised because it had been in constant talks with the Department for Education, and this was "helpful confirmation" of what the funding would be.

"Institutions will therefore be able to plan with some certainty," Mr Clarke said.

Earlier this month the Commons education select committee produced a report which was highly critical of ministers' higher education strategy.

Mr Clarke's announcement comes in his formal response to that report.

The chairman of the Commons committee, Labour MP Barry Sheerman, said the response contained "some honeyed words, but they cover a total rejection of most of the things we put to them" - such as the concentration of research funding on elite departments.

He said people were worried that this would jeopardise future excellence.

The evidence was that the departments which currently had the best research ratings were, not many years ago, a couple of rungs down the scale.

The worry was that concentrating on the best would stop that progression in future.

Access pledge

Mr Sheerman said ministers had not even engaged with suggestions that would have helped them politically, such as giving more resources to poorer students by charging the better off higher interest on their student loans.

Mr Clarke is also promising a reduction in bureaucracy following the creation of the new Office for Fair Access.

This will decide whether universities can charge "top-up" tuition fees, on the basis of their plans to open their doors to students from a wider range of backgrounds than have traditionally participated in university life.

Prof Floud said: "We remain concerned about the degree to which bursaries will be a requirement of the access agreement."

This would be much more difficult for some institutions to meet than others.

"And to specify widening participation activities such as outreach in this way does not fit with the government's stated concern to reduce or avoid micromanagement."