Swansea has been allocated an extra 20% (£2.25m) of Quality Research funding by the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW). Only one other Welsh University (Bangor) saw their HEFCW allocation increase with the other 8 funded institutions all receiving a decrease. Over half of HEFCW’s funding for 2015/16 has been allocated for research and the increase for Swansea University reflects its growing research reputation.

The success in research funding growth is firmly based on Swansea’s improved research reputation in the Research Excellence Framework 2014 that assessed Swansea to have more than doubled the volume and quality of its world leading research. This saw Swansea soar up the research rankings from 52nd in 2008 to 26th in 2014 cementing the University’s position as one of the top research institutions in the UK.

Taken together these two achievements represents the largest combined growth in quality research funding and research reputation of any research intensive university in the UK.

Welcoming the announcement Professor Hilary Lappin-Scott, Swansea University’s Senior Pro-Vice Chancellor said:

“Swansea is a rising star amongst research institutions attracting additional funding as a reward for its innovation, growth and research adding to the delivery of an excellent student experience it offers to potential learners.  As the Research Excellence Framework 2014 results revealed, Swansea is now listed in the UK’s top 30 research universities ranked 26^th overall and 22^nd for “Impact” indicating the research conducted at Swansea makes a real and positive difference to society.

“The HEFCW funding will enable us to continue with our mission to be a research-led Welsh university of international quality providing career enhancing opportunities for our students and using our research to support the economy, health, and civic society in the region and beyond.”

Swansea University’s remarkable growth in QR funding and research reputation is further supported by other recent successes that evidence Swansea is fast becoming a top UK and international institution.

The University has recently been recognised as a 5 star institution in the globally recognised university quality rating system by QS Stars. This places Swansea in the company of top global universities such as Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Oxford and Cambridge who have also been awarded 5 stars.

In addition, within the Guardian University League tables 2016, published earlier this week, Swansea University have improved by a remarkable 42 places in just 5 years from 94^th to 52^nd in the UK. In particular, the rankings also confirm Swansea University as a top-20 institution (ranked 18^th) for graduate employability indicating that our graduates are well supported and equipped to find employment once they leave university.  

• For more details on the HEFCW funding for higher education 2015/16 announcement go to http://tinyurl.com/orhvjeq