Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Quango watch: A guide to those unelected quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations that run our lives

Sunday 10 April 1994 00:02 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

No 9: Higher Education Funding Council for England

What does it do? Advises on the distribution of funds: pounds 2.6bn to universities in England, making it one of the most powerful quangos in the country.

How much does it cost? pounds 11m running costs. Chief executive Graeme Davies earns pounds 104,000.

Who is on the board? Michael Fallon, former Conservative education minister, three businessmen, five academics and five higher education bureaucrats most of whom sit on other education funding councils. Appointed by Education Secretary. None elected.

Central criticism: The board represents a threat to academic freedom. A new pressure group, the Council for Academic Autonomy, claims that the traditional 'arm's length' relationship between the Government and the universities has been destroyed by the quango. The Government has given the council the power to link funds to its assessment of the quality of teaching in different university departments, and to determine how money for research and teaching should be split.

Accountability: Only to Education Secretary. Closed meetings.

Send details of any quango you feel may be behaving improperly to Quangowatch, the Independent on Sunday, 40 City Road, London EC1Y 2DB

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in