His kampf: The muddle at the UFC

The Universities Funding Council (UFC) communicates with universities through a series of circular letters. (This term describes their circulation rather than either their shape or, usually, their logic!) On 23 October 1990, it sent round letter 29/90, announcing that it ‘could not accept’ the bids made by universities for funding for student places in the period to 1994/1995. Whilst noting that the bids provided for an expansion ‘consistent with DES planning projections and the Council's own planning assumptions’, the Council could not accept the prices at which the bids were tendered, even though they were the Council's own ‘guide prices’ in 93% of cases. The Council was, it said, ‘disappointed by the scale of economy offered’ by the bids. These bids were the outcome of four‐year plans developed by universities during academic year 1989/ 1990, in accordance with lengthy and well‐defined procedures set out by the UFC itself So what is going on at the UFC? And, more importantly, what is likely to happen next?