Annex 2 Funding and Controlled Subjects
How SFC funds
Funding for HEIs consist of teaching funding from SFC and tuition fees. HEIs are funded by SFC to deliver a target of full-time equivalent ( FTE) funded student places each academic year. Funded places are split between funding subject groups and separate units of resource (subject prices) applied to the funded places in each group.
Controlled Subjects
SFC controls the number of students in the HE system in the following subjects: Undergraduate Medicine pre clinical; Undergraduate Medicine clinical; Undergraduate Dentistry pre clinical; Undergraduate Dentistry clinical; Nursing and Midwifery pre-registration education; Initial Teacher Education; and Undergraduate Veterinary Medicine.
The Scottish Executive Health Department and NHS Education for Scotland determine the numbers of students all of these areas except Initial Teacher Training which is determined by the Scottish Executive Education Department and Undergraduate Veterinary Medicine determined by Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department.
Figure 1 Controlled funded student places allocated 2006-07 by FTE8
As some of these controlled subjects are used to increase numbers and deliver specific Government targets, for example Nursing and Teacher Training, the changes in these subjects' popularity should also be treated with caution.