Research funds threat for Scottish universities

SCOTLAND’S leading research universities risk being overtaken by big-spending international competitors unless there is a radical re-think over the way the sector is funded.

The Russell Group, which represents 24 elite universities including Edinburgh and Glasgow, said British institutions are already falling behind those in countries spending “astounding” amounts on higher education.

In a report published today, entitled Jewels in the Crown, the organisation calls for research funding to be concentrated in the hands of its members, and suggests scrapping the cap which currently limits tuition fees at £9,000 a year.

Earlier this month, the authors of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings said UK institutions were losing ground to well-financed competitors in Asia as a number of universities, including Aber-deen, Dundee, Glasgow and St Andrews, plummeted in the league table.

Today’s report, which singles out the strengths of Glasgow’s Wolfson Medical School and Edinburgh’s work on the UK supercomputer project, says there will be “harmful effects” on long-term economic growth if funding is not “sufficiently concentrated”.

It also complains that the retention of a cap on tuition fees, which Scottish students studying in their home country do not pay, will limit “diversity and dynamism”. Dr Wendy Piatt, director general of the Russell Group, said: “Our competitors are pumping billions of pounds into research and higher education, and our leading universities are already under-resourced in comparison. There is a real danger that overseas universities will not only equal us, but will overtake us.”

While universities in Scotland have welcomed increased levels of funding from the Scottish government, questions remain over how institutions can continue to offer free tuition for Scots and EU students while remaining internationally competitive.

At present, Edinburgh receives by some way the most research funding of any Scottish university, followed by Glasgow. There have already been moves made to concentrate research funding in the country’s “ancient” universities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and St Andrews, as well as a small number of newer institutions such as Heriot-Watt, Stirling and Strathclyde.

Sir Timothy O’Shea, principal of the University of Edinburgh, said: “Last year [we] secured more than £250 million in competitive grants for about 1,000 research projects from UK and international sources. This is about £3.50 for each £1 in formula research funding from the Scottish Government.

“This success puts us in the top five in the Russell Group, and the funded research projects will bring tremendous economic and social benefits to Scotland.

“I have been advising the government committees in Germany, France and China which are investing strongly and selectively in small numbers of large research universities, and have directly observed the ways that the leading universities in the US and UK are now being subjected to unprecedented global competition.

“Without further support, it will be a very tough battle for us to continue to strengthen our global reputation and to extend the range of our research work.”

Professor Nigel Seaton, principal of Abertay University, a leading member of university think-tank million+, which also represents Edinburgh Napier and the University of West Scotland, said: “Research funding is already heavily concentrated in the UK.

“It is not clear that further concentration would have a major impact on the UK’s research performance. But it is clear that it would harm the learning experience of most students, whose opportunities to learn from active researchers would be reduced.”

Students at all universities, and from all backgrounds, benefit from a connection to the generation of new knowledge.”A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “We have not only maintained the principal of public investment we have increased that investment in higher education and university principals have acknowledged that the funding being provided meets their needs. This report shows exactly why we are committed to free access to university and providing the funding to deliver that, by doing so we have protected opportunities for students and given our universities the certainty they need to remain competitive.”