ArchiveMid-ranked unis fare best in number crunch
ResearchResearch.com - Winners in research spending analysis not the usual suspects
Mid-range institutions are profiting most from increases in research council funding, data published for the first time in this issue of Research Fortnight suggest.
Between the 2005-6 and 2006-7 financial years, the total funding awarded by the seven research councils and the Wellcome Trust to Cambridge, the most highly-funded institution, actually decreased, the data say. And although total funding for the 20 top universities in the Russell Group did increase slightly, the second-tier of institutions such as York, Reading and Bath�who represent their interests through the 1994 Group�did far better in the period examined.
Overall, the analysis shows that the Russell Group�s share of total grant funding fell from 72.5 per cent to 66.8 per cent between 2005-6 and 2006-7, while the share of the 1994 Group, the coalition of smaller research-intensive universities, rose from 14.6 per cent to 17.1 per cent (see Table 1 via link below).
The data on which institutions get support from each of the research agencies has been collated by Research Fortnight for the first time, on the basis of requests made to their administrators and, in some cases, demanded under the Freedom of Information Act.
Steve Smith, chairman of the 1994 Group, says the increase may reflect the recent determination of all group Between the 2005-6 and 2006-7 financial years, the total funding awarded by the seven research councils and the Wellcome Trust to Cambridge, the most highly-funded institution, actually decreased, the data say. And although total funding for the 20 top universities in the Russell Group did increase slightly, the second-tier of institutions such as York, Reading and Bath�who represent their interests through the 1994 Group�did far better in the period examined.
Overall, the analysis shows that the Russell Group�s share of total grant funding fell from 72.5 per cent to 66.8 per cent between 2005-6 and 2006-7, while the share of the 1994 Group, the coalition of smaller research-intensive universities, rose from 14.6 per cent to 17.1 per cent (see Table 1).
The data on which institutions get support from each of the research agencies has been collated by Research Fortnight for the first time, on the basis of requests made to their administrators and, in some cases, demanded under the Freedom of Information Act.
Steve Smith, chairman of the 1994 Group, says the increase may reflect the recent determination of all group members to boost their research incomes.
�The area where the 1994 Group traditionally lagged was research grants per member of staff,� he said. �Now everyone is realising that metrics are coming in, and grant income has become an absolute priority.�
Vice-chancellors have suggested that the fact that since 2006 the research councils have started to pay the �full economic costs� of each project may also have accelerated this trend. �The arrival of full economic costing has created a greater incentive for us to make sure we get grants,� said Smith.
Geographically, Scottish universities saw the largest increase in absolute terms, while other traditionally research-intensive regions, including London and the north west, didn�t do as well. Taken together, Scottish institutions saw a 37 per cent rise in research grant income over the period, while London-based ones saw a 1 per cent decrease and those in the north west experienced a severe 12 per cent cut.
Explanations for these regional disparities are thin on the ground. But Ian Halliday, president of the European Science Foundation and chief executive of the Scottish Universities Physics Alliance, a federation of physics departments, says that part of Scotland�s success may be attributable to the arrival of the alliance. He says that it has enabled Scottish physics departments to compete more effectively with large physics departments such as that at Imperial College.
Differences in funding trends were evident across research funders. For example, while doing better overall, the mid-range institutions did not increase their share in funding from the Wellcome Trust, which invested more than ever in the richest institutions. And, not surprisingly, the ranking of the universities at the two smallest councils, the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Economic and Social Research Council, differs markedly from their ranking in total research funding.
by Hannah Devlin hdnews@ResearchResearch.com
Source: Research Fortnight
