Money universities receive to boost knowledge exchange could be linked to their work with small- and medium-sized businesses, the head of the England¡¯s funding council has hinted.

The ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Innovation Fund (Heif), currently worth ?160 million a year, has been increasingly concentrated since 2011 on those universities that bring in larger amounts of money through their work with businesses and not-for-profit organisations.

But Madeleine Atkins, chief executive of the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø Funding Council for England, told a conference this week that universities¡¯ interaction with small- and medium-sized enterprises ¡°could be better¡± and that the Treasury ¡°would very much like to see our engagement with SMEs picking up¡±.

Hefce was reviewing how Heif funding works and will ¡°look again¡± at the incentives for universities to work with SMEs, she told the annual conference of the Association of University Administrators, held in Manchester, on 16 April.

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Further announcements would be made during this calendar year, she added.

One of Professor Atkins¡¯ slides also showed which Local Enterprise Partnerships had the most links with universities mentioned in their strategy documents ¨C the South East Midlands, Birmingham and Sheffield LEPs featured the most partnerships with the academy, dwarfing other regions such as Oxford.

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She also warned about a ¡°worrying¡± 8 per cent decline since 2005-6 in the number of UK students taking full-time taught master¡¯s degrees.

¡°This is not a good picture if you¡¯re looking at the government industrial strategy, if you¡¯re looking at the need for economic growth,¡± she said.

Funding for postgraduate study should be a key focus of sector lobbying in the run up to the next Treasury spending review, she added.

david.matthews@tsleducation.com