Glossary 

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•  D 
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•  F 
•  G 
•  H 
•  I 
•  J 
•  K 
•  L 
•  M 
•  N 
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•  Q 
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•  U 
•  V 
•  W 
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A

• Access courses:
  Access courses are designed to prepare students who do not have standard entry qualifications for higher education courses.
• Access to learning funds:
  Government money given to universities and colleges via the UK HE funding councils to assist students in financial difficulty with their living costs. Funds may be used to provide bursaries for students who might be deterred from entering higher education. They can also be used to waive tuition fees for part-time students on benefits, or who become unemployed during their course.
• Accountability:
  The process through which institutions and individuals are expected to demonstrate the fulfilment of their obligations, including the proper use of public funds.
• Accreditation:
  Accreditation is the approval of a higher education course by an authorised body.
• Agent of change:
  Our strategic role in the university sector (see New Horizons)
• APUC:
  Advanced Procurement for Universities and Colleges
  

B

• BAG Network:
  Bursary Advisory Group Network - an email network which allows you to share information and issues regarding bursaries with colleagues in other locations.
• Benchmarking:
  A process through which practices are analysed to provide a standard measurement ('benchmark') of effective performance within an organisation (such as a university). Benchmarks are also used to compare performance with other organisations and other sectors.
• BIS:
  The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (formerly known as DIUS)
• Bologna Declaration, Bologna Process:
  In 1999 Education ministers from around 30 countries undertook in a joint declaration (the Bologna Declaration) to establish a European area of higher education by 2010. This includes, for example, enabling students to study in other European countries, and ensuring that their qualifications and skills are transferable. The ongoing work to achieve this is the Bologna process.
• BUFDG:
  British Universities Finance Directors Group
• Bursaries:
  Bursaries offer financial help for students to help them successfully complete their studies. SFC provides colleges with bursary funds to support their students studying up to and including HNC level.  Eligible Scottish domiciled students studying for more advanced qualifications at college or university apply to the Student Awards Agency for Scotland (SAAS) for publicly funded bursaries.

C

• CIPFA:
  Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy
• Collaborative arrangements:
  A general term for arrangements between two or more institutions (universities, higher education colleges or further education colleges) for joint activity.
• Continuing professional development (CPD):
  A range of short and long training programmes, some of which have an option of accreditation, which foster the development of employment- related knowledge, skills and understanding.
• Curriculum for Excellence:
  The Scottish Government's strategy for transforming the learning experience for all young people in Scotland.
  

D

• DDA:
  Disability Discrimination Act (1995)  - UK legislation setting out the rights of disabled people not to encounter unjustified discrimination in society on account of a disability.
• DELNI:
  Department for Employment and Learning for Northern Ireland
• DIUS:
  Department for Innovation, Universities & Skills
• DRC:
  Disability Rights Commission  - An independent body established to eliminate discrimination against disabled people and to promote equality of opportunity
• DSA:
  Disabled Student Allowance  - An allowance for disabled students in Higher Education.
• Delivery Partners:
  The bodies and organisations with which we work to achieve our outcomes
• Diversity:
  A broad term to describe the range of visible and invisible differences between people and institutions. It can mean the varieties of learners with different backgrounds, requiring varied methods of entry to courses and of instruction. It is also used to describe the variety of provision available in the higher education sector and the different types of institution which deliver it.

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E

• e-Learning:
  The delivery of content via electronic media, such as the internet, video, interactive TV and CD-ROM. e-Learning encompasses all learning undertaken, whether formal or informal, through electronic delivery.
• Employability skills:
  The transferable core skills that represent functional and enabling knowledge, skills, and attitudes required in today's workplace. They are necessary for career success at all levels of employment and for all levels of education.
• Equal opportunities:
  the prevention, elimination or regulation of discrimination between persons on grounds of sex or marital status, on racial grounds, or on grounds of disability, age, sexual orientation, language or social origin, or of other personal attributes, including beliefs or opinions, such as religious beliefs or political opinions.
  

F

• FE:
  Further Education
• FECs:
  Further education colleges
• Financial memorandum:
  The financial memorandum is an agreement between SFC and the institutions it funds that sets out the terms and conditions for payment of SFC grants.
• FTE:
  Full-time equivalent. For comparison and funding purposes, numbers of part-time students and staff are converted to full-time equivalents. This is because a direct head-count is often a poor indication of the actual volume of activity.
• Funding councils:
  The Scottish Funding Council (SFC), the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), and the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) comprise the funding councils for higher education in the UK. There is no funding council for Northern Ireland, where HEIs are funded directly by the Department of Employment and Learning, Northern Ireland (DELNI).
• Further education:
  Further education is for people over compulsory school age which does not take place in a secondary school. It may be in a sixth-form college, a further education college or a higher education institution. Further education courses are generally up to the standard of GCE A-level or NVQ Level 3.

G

• GFU:
  General Fund for Universities
• Governing body:
  The court, council, board of governors or other body ultimately responsible for the affairs of a university or college. This will contain a large number of 'lay members' who are not from within the sectors and give their time voluntarily.
  

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H

• HE:
  higher education
• HEFCE:
  Higher Education Funding Council for England
• HEIs:
  higher education institutions
• HESA:
  The Higher Education Statistics Agency collects, analyses and reports on HE statistics for universities and colleges in the UK.
• HFU:
  Horizon Fund for Universities
• Higher education:
  Higher education courses are programmes leading to qualifications, or credits which can be counted towards qualifications, which are above the standard of GCE A-levels or other Level 3 qualifications. They include degree courses, postgraduate courses and Higher National Diplomas. Higher education takes place in universities and higher education colleges, and in some further education colleges.
• HE Academy:
  The Higher Education Academy works to help universities, colleges and others to deliver the best possible learning experience for all students. The academy was formed in 2004 from a merger of the Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, the Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN), and the TQEF National Co-ordination Team.
• HIE:
  Highlands and Islands Enterprise
• HMIe:
  Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Education

I

• Institutions:
  A general term for education institutions, which may include universities, higher education colleges and further education colleges.
• Intellectual property rights (IPR):
  Intellectual property rights protect the creator's right to be appropriately acknowledged for their work, such as an invention or a manuscript. IPR gives the creator a means of controlling how their protected work is exploited, thereby ensuring that they are properly rewarded for their creative endeavours. Includes patents, registered trademarks and copyright.

J

• JANET:
  High-speed computer network for the academic community.
• JISC:
  The Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) is funded by the UK HE and FE funding bodies to provide world-class leadership in the innovative use of ICT to support education and research.
• Jiscmail:
  An email list service to facilitate discussion, collaboration and communication within the UK academic community.
  

K

• Knowledge Exchange:
  Knowledge exchange is the process by which HEIs' knowledge, expertise and intellectually linked assets are constructively applied beyond HE for the wider benefit of the economy and society, through two-way engagement with business, the public sector, cultural and community partners.

L

• Leadership Foundation:
  The Leadership Foundation provides a dedicated service of support and advice on leadership, governance and management for all the UK's higher education institutions.
• Lifelong learning:
  Defined by the Government as all post-16 learning, but applying specifically to learning by adults who are already in the workplace and need special part-time provision, or to learning that adults may wish to undertake to enrich their lives.

M

• More Choices, More Chances (MCMC):
  The Scottish Government's action plan to reduce the proportion of young people not in education employment or training (NEET).

N

• NAO:
  National Audit Office.
• National Performance Framework:
  The Scottish Government's performance framework for Scotland which includes the 15 'National Outcomes'.
• NDPB:
  Non-departmental Public Body.
• NEET:
  Young people not in education employment or training.
• New Horizons:
  The report (2008) of the Scottish Government's Joint Future Thining Taskforce on Universities.
• NUS:
  National Union of Students - a confederation of local student representative organisations in colleges and universities throughout the United Kingdom.

O

• Office of Science and Technology (OST):
  The Office of Science and Technology is the department of UK government with responsibility for science, engineering and technology and their uses to benefit society and the economy.
• OFSTED:
  The Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) aims to improve standards of achievement and quality of education through regular independent inspection, public reporting and informed advice. Ofsted is responsible for assessing the quality of initial teacher training.
• Overseas students:
  Overseas students are defined as students from outside the European Community.
  

P

• Performance indicators (PIs):
  A set of indicators produced by which measure the performance of institutions in a number of areas.
• Post-1992 universities:
  Higher education institutions which acquired university status as a result of the provisions of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992.
• Pre-1992 universities:
  Higher education institutions which had university status before the provisions of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992 came into force; and the two Northern Ireland universities.
  

Q

• QA:
  quality assurance
• QAAHE:
  Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education in England
• Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education (QAA):
  The QAA provides a quality assurance service for higher education institutions throughout the UK.
• QR funding:
  Quality-related research funding. It is allocated according to research quality (as judged by expert review in the periodic Research Assessment Exercise), and the amount of research carried out.

R

• Research Assessment Exercise (RAE):
  An exercise carried out periodically to determine the quality of research in UK HEIs. The results are used by the higher education funding bodies for Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland to allocate QR funding.
• Research Councils:
  There are seven subject-specific Research Councils. They are funded by the Government to support research in their own establishments and to fund research projects in universities.
• Research Excellence Framework:
  New arrangements for the assessment and funding of research (being developed by HEFCE)
• Research Pooling:
  Areas where the Council has worked together with universities and others to create new opportunities for world-class research excellence in Scotland.
  

S

• SCQF:
  Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework
• Sector Skills Councils:
  Sector Skills Councils are independent organisations developed by employers in industry. They are employer-led and involve trade unions and professional bodies. SSCs were set up by Government to tackle the skills and productivity needs of their sector throughout the UK.
• SFC:
  Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council
• SGLLD:
  Scottish Government Lifelong Learning Directorate
• 16+ Learning Choices:
  The senior phase of Curriculum for Excellence
• SKILL
  National Bureau for Students with Disabilities  - a voluntary sector organisation that promotes opportunities for young people and adults with any disability in Post-16 education, training and employment across the United Kingdom.
• SLA:
  Service Level Agreement
• Specialism:
  See 'Diversity'
• SPFM:
  Scottish Public Finance Manual
• SRIF:
  Science Research Investment Fund
• SRRF:
  Strategic Rationalisation and Restructuring Fund
• SUMs
  A student unit of measurement (SUM) equates to roughly 40 hours of classroom-based attendance on a programme of study and relates directly to one Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) credit - see wSUMs. 
• SuperJANET:
  The advanced fibre optic computer network linking universities and colleges in the UK. A development of JANET - the joint academic network.
  

T

• Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC):
  A uniform approach to the costing of activities undertaken by all UK HEIs since 2002.
  

U

• UKERNA:
  United Kingdom and Research Networking Association
• Under-represented groups:
  Groups that have participation rates significantly below the national average for the cohort under consideration. Examples of such groups may be people from low-income backgrounds, lower socio-economic groups, low participation neighbourhoods, certain minority ethnic groups or disabled people.
• Unit of assessment (UOA):
  The units used as subject categories for the Research Assessment Exercise. In the 1996 and 2001 RAEs 69 UOAs were used. For the 2008 RAE there were 67 UOAs.
• Universities UK:
  An umbrella group representing the views and interests of the vice-chancellors and principals of universities and other higher education bodies in the UK.

V

• Validation:
  The process by which a course is judged to have met the requirements for an award by the relevant degree-awarding body, or the relevant examining body, or by an accredited institution on behalf of that degree-awarding body.

W

• Widening access, widening participation:
  This is when a funding council, institution or other organisation implements policies and engages in activities designed to ensure that all those with the potential to benefit from higher education have the opportunity to do so whatever their background and whenever they need it.
• Work-based learning:
  Learning delivered by a university, college or other training provider in the workplace, normally under the supervision of a person from the same company as well as a professional teacher from outside the company.
• wSUMs:
  
  SUMs are weighted against the relevant subject to provide weighted student units of measurement (WSUMs).  WSUMs is the measure we use for funding purposes. 

X

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Z