Higher Education Funding Review
The Department is initiating a review of Higher Education Funding in Northern Ireland, engaging with Northern Ireland's Higher Education Sector to ensure the views of all stakeholders are considered, with the aim of identifying a sustainable funding model capable of delivering transformational and generational benefits.
Three work strands are currently proposed:
- an assessment of financial sustainability, with a first stage comprising a financial needs assessment of each of the five local Higher Education Institutions;
- a review of the Teaching Funding Model; and
- a review of Student Support Finance.
The first stage, an independent Financial Needs Assessment of our Higher Education Institutions, was completed in March 2026. A summary of the report was published on the Department’s website on 18 March 2026. Commissioned as the first phase of the broader Review of Higher Education Funding, the report examines the financial needs of the sector in the short to medium term.
In regard to the wider Review, the Department is seeking to build consensus on an agreed way forward through engagement with stakeholders.
Queries in relation to the Higher Education Funding Review should be addressed to