Administrators at the University of Cambridge are not pleased. They contend that the money they received from the UK Research Assessment Exercise (RAE), whose funding results for England were announced on 5 March, is not enough to pay for expansion of science faculty or research staff. “Is the UK going to abandon its world-class institutes?” asks Ian Leslie, the university's pro-vice chancellor for research.

The university will receive about £113.6 million (US$159 million) in research funds next year, up 1.8% on the previous year, on the basis of its performance in the recent RAE (see Nature 457, 624–625; 2009).

Leslie wonders whether the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), which conducts the RAE, has opted to support other universities at the expense of eminent research-intensive institutions.

“These funding levels are unlikely to cause new hirings,” Leslie says. “The government has made noises about maintaining the budget for higher education, but we are concerned about a move to disperse funding more widely.” Under HEFCE's allocation schedule, 113 institutes will receive a share of £1.572 billion in research funding, up 7.8% from the £1.458 billion in the current year.

The University of Oxford will receive about £118.9 million, the most of any recipient and an increase of more than 7%, yet Oxford also says this isn't enough. “The increase in this funding does not keep pace with the increase in our activity or our costs,” says vice-chancellor John Hood.

Nor is University College London (UCL) pleased with its £104.5 million, up 0.3%. The university has actually lost money on a per-researcher basis, says president Malcolm Grant. “So even though you increase the quality of your research, you're punished,” he says. UCL will still “invest in excellence when we can”, Grant says.

Not everyone is disappointed. The University of Exeter — which will get some £18 million, up 24% from last year — will fill 29 science teaching and research posts, says Roger Kain, deputy vice-chancellor of research. “We're very satisfied,” he adds.

At Queen Mary, University of London, (up 29% to £32 million), and at Durham University (up 5% to £25 million), new science hires are likely. And at the University of Leicester, which will receive about £22.1 million, up 17%, Ian Postlethwaite, pro-vice-chancellor for research, says he expects to fill 20 lectureships. “This represents a real triumph,” he says.