The Higher Education Funding Council for England has welcomed the extra £30 million being made available to universities and colleges by the Department for Education and Skills to help fund high quality research identified in last year's Research Assessment Exercise.

The extra resources will be targeted at departments rated 5, representing the second highest rating in the exercise.

The HEFCE Board announced in December that it would maintain the average unit of funding for 5* departments in real terms.

Forum Response: Universities UK

Diana Warwick, chief executive of Universities UK, told ePolitix.com: "While we welcome the additional £30m announced by the government in England to support world class research departments (and a further £6m in Wales), we are aware that this falls far short of the £200 million funding gap identified to meet the RAE 2001 ratings.

"Universities have delivered excellence in research: we will continue to urge the government to find the resources needed. Our submission to the government's Spending Review 2002 indicates that they need to invest in this success so as to secure the potential return for the economy and quality of life."