It showed that public and private spending on higher education in the UK is 1.3% of GDP - below the OECD average of 1.5%.
Lord Wallace said that it might be time for "those responsible for higher education in the UK to get around a table" to discuss the issues.
The report shows that even though funding for higher education in the UK is above the average for the European Union, the amount per student has fallen.
Last week I wrote in this space that the future facing higher education in the UK poses some pressing challenges, including adjusting to a financial model more dependent upon tuition revenues.
The funding body is due to contact higher education institutions in the UK, some of which already have online study facilities, asking them for feedback on the plans.
The Higher Education and Research Opportunities in the UK (Hero) site is the official portal to higher education, with a clickable map and profiles of all universities and higher education colleges.
The college claims to offer a "new model of higher education for the humanities in the UK".
The Equality Challenge Unit was set up in 2001 to support the higher education sector by improving equal opportunities for all who work or seek to work in the UK higher education sector.
Much more significant than speculation about a hypothetical decline in foreign demand for UK higher education are the indications of actual decline in domestic demand for more education.
Ucas said the overall decrease of 17, 184 applications to UK higher education courses this autumn should be seen in the context of the record increase of 8.2% last year.
The decision to strip the university of its permission to recruit foreign students prompted an outcry from the higher education sector and concerns that foreign students would be put off applying for universities in the UK. It was the first time a UK university had lost its licence in this way.
The pursuit of overseas students has become big business - with UK universities competing with higher education institutions in countries such as the United States and Australia.
BBC: NEWS | UK | Education | Overseas students 'one in seven'
"If reports that the government is set to reject proposals for a graduate tax turn out to be true, that is good news for the UK's status as a world leader in higher education, " said Wendy Piatt, the Russell Group's director general.
The RAE is an independent assessment of the quality of research in UK universities and is carried out on behalf of the higher education funding bodies.
Visiting India himself in November, Mayor of London Boris Johnson urged the government to reconsider, suggesting the policy sent the "wrong signal" and could damage the UK's reputation as one of most open and dynamic higher education markets in the world.
According to the Higher Education Statistics Agency, there were 39, 090 Indian students on UK courses in 2010-11, 13% of the total non-EU student population and second only to China.
The report for Universitas 21 rated the UK 10th best at providing higher education in a ranking of 48 countries.
"Pay is consistently identified as the key factor, " says the report, called Recruitment and Retention in Employment in UK Higher Education.
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