Bidding process opens and capital grant details set out for the next three financial years

OfS has now opened the bidding process and set out capital grant details for the next three financial years. This information can be found here.

This document sets out the arrangements for the distribution by the Office for Students (OfS) of capital grant for the three financial years (April to March) 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25.

We will distribute capital funding for eligible providers through two mechanisms:

• £11 million through a formula allocation for 2022-23
• £400 million through a single bidding exercise to be run in 2022, with capital monies to be distributed over the three-year funding period running from financial years 2022-23 to 2024-25. The competition is open to all providers that are registered (or have applied to register) with us in the Approved (fee cap) category.

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said:

“The £450m in capital funding we have announced is not simply a cheque in the post – it’s a passport to fantastic initiatives that improve facilities, upgrade buildings and deliver essential equipment which make a real difference to students and enhance our world-class higher education sector.

“Last year’s £128m worth of funding has helped our great universities deliver real investment across the country, like the Space Centre for Artificial Intelligence at the University of Bradford and refurbishments to the University of Wolverhampton’s School of Pharmacy.

“I’d encourage every provider to make a bold, ambitious bid that will allow them to deliver life-changing teaching in critical subjects and give a boost to their local communities.”

Further info on examples of last year’s successful bids:

• Blackpool and the Fylde College – £2,000,000: This project will enhance the facilities, infrastructure, and higher education programmes across four sites. This will help to facilitate agile learning and extend the capacity of the existing infrastructure to accommodate a wider geography for a range of flexible higher education programmes.    
• Brunel University London – £2,000,000 :Funding will be used for equipment to modernise and enhance learning and teaching across the areas of engineering, design, computer science, nursing and allied health professions. In particular it will support digital manufacturing, aerospace engineering and robotics/computer programming.  n addition, nursing and allied health professions will benefit from the refurbishment of the existing infrastructure to create an eight-bay nursing ward and simulation suite and the purchase of a range of plasticated specimens and anatomical models.     

• University of Bradford – £2,000,000: Funding will be utilised to support three different projects:   Bradford Health – major expansion and development of facilities and equipment to support existing and growing provision in health and allied health subjects ; Space Centre for Artificial Intelligence – to co-fund the first phase of the creation of a fully equipped centre to support the growth of the space industry in the region. A key feature of this proposal is to provide match funding to a large private donation; Architectural Studio – the creation of new teaching and learning spaces for programmes in architectural technology and architectural engineering.     
• University of Wolverhampton – £2,000,000: This project will support the refurbishment of an existing space to create a modern School of Pharmacy facility. The facility will include specialist equipment, flexible learning spaces that allow for inter-professional education, and audio-visual and tablet technology to support student-led learning