London unis demand share of funds

Leading London universities today demanded a fair share of government funds after getting top honours in this year's academic research league table.

Imperial College came within a whisker of toppling Cambridge from the head of a table based on Higher Education Funding Council's research assessment, as Oxford dropped from first to third. The LSE came fourth and University College London seventh, as the quality of research shot up overall.

More than half of UK academics (55 per cent) now work in departments doing research of international excellence, up from one in three when the situation was last assessed five years ago. But the funding council, which uses the research assessment to allocate cash, has little more to give, in real terms, than it had in 1996 - just under £1billion for England.

Its chief executive Sir Howard Newby admitted it did "not have enough money to go around". Unless the allocation system changed, there could be a £200 million shortfall next year. The council is meeting today to consider options.

UCL provost Professor Chris Llewellyn-Smith warned today that universities would not tolerate any dilution of funding, saying: "It is difficult with existing levels of research funding to match international competition."