APPENDIX 76
Memorandum from UK Computing Research
Committee
The UK depends for its future economic success,
national security and wellbeing of its citizens on the quality
of S&T teaching and research in its Universities. In the 21st
century ICT is an essential and indispensable part of the S&T
portfolio. The UK produces ICT graduates of the highest calibre,
carries out world class research and is investing in programmes
such as e-Science that are the envy of other countries. However,
along with other subjects ICT is seeing a decline in UK students
applying to carry out undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.
The UK needs a highly trained and professional ICT workforce.
Our universities are the principal means to secure this workforce.
ICT is well spread across UK Universities. Almost
every UK University teaches the subject and there is a strong
core of Universities researching the area. ICT has traditionally
been a good recruiting ground for students but recent years have
seen a dramatic decline in application numbers. Last year some
of the strongest ICT Departments in the UK resorted to clearing.
There is every chance that ICT courses will close and a number
of Universities are reviewing the status of their ICT Departments.
The Select committee invited comments on a number
of particular points and we set out our responses below.
1. HEFCE's research funding formulae, as
applied to Research Assessment Exercise ratings, has had a significant
impact on the financial viability of university ICT Departments.
In particular Departments dropping from five to four will have
seen dramatic reductions in their HEFCE research income.
2. In common with S&T funding in general
a relatively small cohort of Universities attract a large proportion
of the research funding available. Over 50% of the EPSRC's general
S&T funding is secured by 12 universities. The EPSRC is also
the largest funder of UK ICT research which in this case includes
electronics and photonics. Currently 10 Departments take well
over 50% of all available research funds. There has been an increasing
trend towards concentration in fewer larger research groups.
3. The implications for university science
teaching of changes in the weightings given to science subjects
in the teaching funding formula has had a direct impact on computer
science. HEFCE moved it from the higher B band to C band funding.
This has been injurious particularly to those courses with a high
laboratory based element. The single band does not discriminate
between courses with a high laboratory component and those without.
4. The optimal balance between teaching
and research provision in universities will vary across institutions.
In a context of strong application numbers then teaching-only
departments are viable. They become much more difficult to sustain
at current application levels. It is always desirable where possible
that teaching be informed by research. The exposure of students
to the latest work in a field helps develop their own critical
faculties, and to be taught by those advancing the subject can
be both inspirational and lead students into research themselves.
5. In ICT we see strong local and regional
effects. For example, York now has over 120 ICT companies many
of whom work with or are spin-offs from the local Universities.
Phenomena such as Silicon Glen (the Edinburgh and Glasgow corridor),
Silicon Fen (the Cambridge area) and the M3-M4 corridors all owe
their success, in part, to the strength of local universities
providing both a research base and supply of trained graduates.
6. In critical S&T areas the Government
should intervene to ensure continuing provision of subjects of
strategic national or regional importance. We have already seen
the consequences of under recruitment in the area of Power Engineering.
This recognition, albeit, late in the day, led to courses with
associated bursaries that have succeeded in attracting students
to provide the next generation of power engineers to develop,
run and maintain our electricity grid. This sort of expertise
once lost is expensive and difficult to reacquire. In ICT there
are particular areas of research and teaching that are known to
be problematic—examples include; security and privacy, distributed
systems, and complex IT architectures. An audit of critical long
term knowledge across S&T sectors would seem sensible.
The health of University courses depends crucially
on the wider economic context. The economic outlook for ICT remains
mixed. There is evidence within business that ICT expenditure
is now rising after a period of tight budgets. Young people looking
to choose a career still imagine that after the heady days of
the dot com boom ICT does not offer the remuneration and security
it once did. However, employers complain of skills shortages in
this area. Companies are now offering retainers to students to
ensure that they join them at the end of their studies. It is
expected that 2005 could see much higher competition between companies
vying for ICT talent.
In the absence of home applicants Universities
recruit increasing numbers of overseas students to undergraduate
and postgraduate courses. Increasingly our ICT Departments depend
on overseas talent to carry out their research.
It is timely to review the amount and balance
of our investment in S&T teaching and research at our Universities.
At the same time we need to foster a more positive attitude in
young people towards S&T.
UKCRC would be happy to answer follow-up questions
on any of these points.
February 2005
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