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A comparative budget analysis approach employed by British universities is discussed. The British funding system analyzes in detail unit costs and marginal costs and undertakes comparative assessments of expenditure patterns and priorities for a group of 95 institutions with similar objectives, in which each has autonomy in resource allocation. Categories of expenditures are listed, and equipment expenditures are used as an example. For 16 institutions, 1981-1982 equipment expenditures for business management departments are identified for full-time equivalent students (undergraduates, teaching postgraduates, and research postgraduates). Included are the formulas and calculations used for departmental equipment expenditures, as well as a discussion of the statistical measures employed. Consideration is given to: differential costs associated with different levels of study and different disciplines, partial regression analysis, empirical weighting for different categories of students, use of an iterative computer program to test the suitability of partial regression for every expenditure heading, and evaluating the expenditure patterns of all universities with the computer. An example of comparative expenditures for 1982-1983 salaries and wages in British university libraries is included. (SW)

The United Kingdom faces a decline in the 18-year-old cohort from 900,000 + in the mid-1980s to 600,000 + in the mid-1990s. Will a third of the universities close? More important, will industry and commerce cope with the potential reduction in skilled manpower production? A method is described for forecasting graduate numbers and their quality by discipline, and suggestions are made about ways in which society could react so as to influence unacceptable trends.