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Is Targeted Funding up to the Mark?

Abstract In order to determine the allocation of money for projects in continuing and vocational education, government agencies in the UK are providing more and more opportunities to bid for targeted funding. This article provides an overview of recent changes in funding policy in higher education and examines how such changes have impacted on continuing education deparatments in higher education, pointing up the increasing pressure to bid for UK government and European Union funds to develop provision which was once outside their sphere of operation. There appears to be little or no theoretical account of the effects of the growth in competitive tendering on continuing education, and so the impact of this relatively new funding strategy on staff and institutions is studied in order to assess its efficacy and significance for the sector as a whole. This study contextualises the familiar differences in culture between liberal adult education and vocational endeavours and between continuing education and ‘mainstream’ higher education. It also reinforces recent calls for a coherent policy of funding for continuing education. [1] An earlier version of this article was presented at the Society for Research into Higher Education Conference in December 1996.