The guidelines by which bids are assessed as follows:
1. Bids for grants will be assessed according to the breadth of the benefit to the University offered by the project in question, the strategic importance of the project to the University and the availability of funds. Only in exceptional circumstances will a grant be awarded in respect of a project which benefits a single department.
2. Grants will not ordinarily be awarded for purposes for which other trust fund (or similar) support exists within the University, for example, the funding of academic scholarships, regardless of whether or not the alternative fund(s) in question are in a position to fund the expenditure proposed.
3. Grants will not ordinarily be awarded in respect of costs for which a department might reasonably be expected to hold a budget.
4. Grants will not ordinarily be agreed in respect of recurrent activities except to provide:
- seed funding to support an activity in its first one to three years; or
- bridging support for one year only where a source of funding is lost and the department/faculty in question is confident that an alternative can be found for the following year.
5. Grants will not ordinarily cover the full cost of a project. Departments will be expected to make some contribution, or to use the grant secured by the Van Houten Fund to assist in securing other funding (including external funding).
6. The extent to which funds may be awarded to external organisations each financial year may be subject to an upper limit, to be set by the General Purposes Committee and reviewed on an annual basis.