UNIVERSITY chiefs in Huddersfield have been given £59.6m for the next 12 months.
Their allocation from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), announced today, is a 5.5% increase on last year's allowance.
It has been welcomed by officials at the Queensgate campus who now hope to expand further on links with colleges in Barnsley and Oldham.
University spokesman Phil Williams said: "We've been allocated an additional £2,172,474.
"This includes £308,939 recovered from funding held back by HEFCE for higher education previously run by Barnsley College and Oldham College.
"We've increased recruitment to higher education in both towns and so our funding allocation reflects this success.
"The money was previously withheld from the colleges because they had not met targets - but it has been released to us now that we are running University Centres in each town.
"Ours is also the highest percentage rise in the region. This reflects both our success in recruitment in general for this current academic year and for our particular success in widening participation among communities previously under-represented at university level study."
Nigel Phillips, the university's senior executive officer, responsible for financial planning, said: "We are delighted that the Funding Council has allocated additional monies to the University in recognition of our continuing expansion and strength in meeting widening participation agendas, both here in Huddersfield and in our new University Centres in Barnsley and Oldham.
"We have received a funding increase of 5.5%, compared with a national average of 4.1%.
"This does not take into account additional funds for growth in student numbers, which will support the university in meeting student needs for high quality education.
"The latest UCAS application figures show that we are continuing to attract a very healthy level of applications following our exceptionally high growth rate last year."
