Direct funding

Most British universities have charitable status because their primary purpose of advancing education and research are deemed to deliver a public benefit.

Universities are not required to be registered with the Charity Commission but are subject to the Charity Commission’s regulatory powers which are monitored by the Office for Students.

Universities are eligible to provide services to an external organisation in exchange for a fee; services include consultancy, access to University facilities, and provision of Continuing Professional Development. Privately funded PhDs are also classed as non-research income.

Before undertaking any non-research projects it is important to consider if your project is in fact research. Please refer to the Frascati definition of research (Frascati Manual 2002) as funders use this definition to determine research eligibility of projects for reporting purposes.

Service provision does not involve a high degree of intellectual input from University staff, no new knowledge should be created and the client would ordinarily expect to own any results arising from the services provided.

It is important that services rendered are costed appropriately. Please refer to the University’s Pricing Policy as a guide to determining cost. A standard set of daily rates (PDF, 98 KB) is available. Please contact your KTC Business Partner for support with non-research projects.