funding of higher education september 2011, yerevan1 performance based financing in higher...

Funding of Higher Education September 2011, Yerevan 1

Performance Based Financing in Higher Education: Slovak Experience

Peter Mederly

Ministry of Education, Science, Research and Sport, Slovakia

The goal of the presentation to present principles of the funding system

used in the Slovak HE since 2002 to present some impacts of the funding

system in the Slovak HE environment



Overview of the presentation

Introduction Priorities of the government´s HE policy and their

support by funding system Basic characteristics of the Slovak HE funding system Where we were and where we are – selected indicators Strengths and weaknesses of the funding system What now ?


Slovak HE in the academic year 2010/2011

33 higher education institutions 20 public 3 state (police, military, health) 10 private

Number of students total 205 892 (full-time 66,1%) public HEIs 80,2% (full-time 70,9%) private HEIs 17,7% (full-time 24,6%) state HEIs 2,1% (full time 39,1%)

Entry rate 60,9% of 19 years old full time 41,9% under 20 years 36,5%


History and political background 1999 – 2006: two governments with one HE policy –

deep HE reform started in 2000 (Bologna process compatible)

New HE Act and funding system introduced in 2002 2006-2010: different government: development in

HE partly distorted but principles remained mostly unchanged

Since 2010: new government - the original development in HE restored; a review of the system after 10 years of running started


Priorities of the government´s HE policy set in 2002 and their support by funding system (1)

Priorities of HE policy Measures in the funding system for the priority support

Enabling broad access to HE (increasing capacity of HE)

Funding based on number of students and graduatesStrengthening the system of students’social support More subsidies from State budget to HE system

Increasing quality of HE Funding depending on qualification structure of teachersSupport of HE research and development Motivation scholarshipsSupport of qualification growth of young teachersSupport for using IT, support for advanced laboratories

Strengthening the HE research

Funding for research dependent on research performanceAllocation of funds for projects in competitive wayMore funds for support of research and development Support of PhD study, support for advanced laboratories


Priorities of the government´s HE policy set in 2002 and their support by funding system (2)

Priorities of HE policy Measures in the funding system for the priority support

Increasing the scope and efficiency of PhD study

More funds for new PhD students Inclusion of results of PhD study into criteria for funding (research performance) Support for development of advanced laboratories

Support of multisource financing

Transformation of HEIs from State budgetary organizations to public HEIsIntroduction of tuition fees in case of study exceeding the standard lengthInclusion of results in obtaining grants from other sources into criteria for allocation of subsidy


Reform of financial management of HE in 2002

multisource financing introduced – funding mostly but not completely from the State budget

the transfer of unspent subsidies from the State budget to next fiscal year allowed for HEIs

subsidies from the State budget in the form of block grant HEIs own property visualization of the true economic state of HEIs by

introduction of write-offs and fully accrual accounting allocation of investment funds on central level just for

development purposes or bigger reconstructions, not for replacing used-up standard equipment and facilities


Allocation of funds from the State budget to HEIs

Four kinds of subsidies for HEIs from the State budget: subsidy for teaching (depending on teaching

performance) subsidy for research (depending on the research

performance) subsidy for further development of the HEIs

(provided for accepted development projects) subsidy for social support of students (depending on

different factors: social scholarships, motivation scholarships, accommodation, meals)

Seminár o hodnotení výskumu, Bratislava, apríl 2011 10

The structure of the HE budget in 2011

teaching 261,5 mil. € research 106,0 mil. € development 4,9 mil. € social support. 52,6 mil. € total 425,0 mil. €

Indicators of teaching performance number of students and graduates full time / part time cycle (Bc, MSc, PhD) personal demandingness of the study field – 20 groups

– from 4 students/teacher (arts) to 19 students/teacher (law) qualification structure of teachers unemployment rate of graduates volume of foreign grants for teaching, size of mobilities, number of

foreign students (used for allocation of small amounts of money) number of publications (proxy for necessary scholarship activities of

teachers – research indicator used for allocation of teaching funds – weight 15%)


12

Block grant for HEI 01

for HEI 20

for HEI 01

for HEI 20

Total amount for teaching

Scholarshipsfor PhD

students

HEI 01 HEI 20

Institution

specific costs

HEI 01 HEI 20

Goods and services for

teaching and operation

HEI 01 HEI 20

Salaries and insurance

HEI 01 HEI 201 Lev

el o

f th

e M

inis

try

Level of higher education institutions

Block grant

for teaching

and operation

Block grant Block grant

Allocation scheme for funds for teaching

Indicators of research performance

Indicators used for „short money“ (evaluated each year) volume of national research grants (during last 2 years) volume of research grants from abroad (during last 2 years) number and quality of publications (during last 2 years) number and quality of artistic outputs (during last 2 years)

Indicator used for „long money“ (in use since 2011) complex research performance during 6 years within 2002-2008 period

evaluated by British RAE-like methodology in 2008 - 2009

Further indicators used till 2010 number of PhD students and graduates research capacity


Example: allocations for publications vs. „normative subsidies“ per student in 2011


Subsidies for publications: monograph: 6 739 € textbook, professional book: 1 596 € publication in currented journal: 4 673 € publication in other reviewed journal: 36 € - 364 €

The „normative subsidy“ for one student varies from 540 € (law undergraduate student) to 3 400 €

(graduate veterinary medicine student) from 2 250 € to 5 400 € for PhD student in different

fields


Where we were and where we are – selected indicators

Funding of public HEIs from the State budget Students in HEIs New students entering HEIs System of students’ social support Qualification structure of teaching staff PhD students and graduates Salaries of teaching staff Structure of allocation of subsidies R&D funding in public HEIs


Funding of the public HEIs from the State budget in 2000 and 2011

Item / Year 2000 2011

Total subsidies for public HEIs from State budget 170 mil. € 425 mil. €

Subsidies for public HEIs as percent of GDP 0,54% 0,61%

Number of full-time students in public HEIs 88 192 125 501

Increase in number of full-time students in % 42,3%

Increase of total subsidies in current prices in % 150,6%

Average subsidy per full-time student in current prices 1 923 € 3 386 €

Increase of total subsidies in prices of 2000 in % 60,4%

Average subsidy per full-time student in 2000 prices 1 923 € 2 168 €


Strengths of the HE funding system clear rules and transparency of allocation of subsidies

from the State budget motivation of HEIs to increase teaching and research

activities specific and focused support for development in selected

areas support of access to HE by the system of social

scholarships incentives for students by motivation scholarships (10 %

of best students a 500 € a year)


Weaknesses of the funding system systemic weaknesses:

lack of direct indicators of teaching quality motivation of HEIs to retain poor students to get subsidy for them missing evidence of real costs of individual study programmes; the

evidence is necessary for further tuning of the allocation formulae low sensibility of some research indicators used for funding with

regard to research fields non-addressed provision of some kinds of social support

(accommodation, meals) there are also some further weaknesses coming from the

implementation of the system (e.g. reliability of input data)

Plans for further development the increase of quality is the main goal for further development

in the Slovak HE for funding system it means to make further tuning we are analyzing possible ways; in any case we need:

to decrease motivation of HEIs for retaining students with poor performance

to make the research performance indicators more sensitive with regard to the research fields

to develop a system for the calculation of full-costs of HE activities (the implementation of British TRAC-like system is running)

to improve the overall implementation of the system


Thank you for your attention


funding of higher education september 2011, yerevan1 performance based financing in higher...

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