APPENDIX 52
Memorandum from the University of Central
England
1. THE IMPACT
OF HEFCE'S
RESEARCH FUNDING
COMMITTEE FORMULAE
ON THE
FINANCIAL VIABILITY
OF UNIVERSITY
SCIENCE DEPARTMENTS
The departments that suffered most from the
RAE funding formulae were those who achieved a 4 in 2001, following
either a 5 or 4 in 1996. Departments that focused on improving
teaching quality during this period in response to QAA pressures,
suffered from lower RAE funding. This in turn undermined the viability
of future research and teaching. Engineering faculties such as
the Technology Innovation Centre (tic) at UCE, which improved
from a 2 to a 3b saw their RAE funding reduced to zero. This resulted
not only in a cut-back on research staff but also a loss of research
student bursaries, both of which meant a reduced capacity to deliver
the small amount of teaching that those staff and students were
expected to deliver. While this did not undermine the financial
viability of the tic, the impact being marginal, at other institutions
this could have been a tipping point.
2. THE DESIRABILITY
OF INCREASING
THE CONCENTRATION
OF RESEARCH
IN A
SMALL NUMBER
OF UNIVERSITY
DEPARTMENTS
The increasing of concentration of research
in a few institutions undermines the viability of the UK science
base. While there is no doubt that those departments that are
world leaders in their field deserve support, the effect of over-concentration
of resources in these departments mean that;
(1) There are reduced opportunities for new
researchers to get started.
(2) There are fewer career paths for those
that do, meaning fewer opportunities for developing new science.
(3) Old science is rewarded, ultimately leading
to stagnation.
(4) Rather than the UK retaining the cutting
edge scientists, it is easier for competitors, in the United States
for example, to pick off research teams thereby reducing national
capacity.
(5) It undermines the capacity of researchers
in new universities to service their regional economics.
(6) It has structural effects on the economy,
reducing the capacity of universities to respond to the needs
of SMEs.
(7) It becomes far more difficult for universities
like UCE to attract and retain research-active staff, which, in
turn, reduces our capacity to deliver 3rd stream activity in the
region, both of which impact on the quality/vibrancy of our teaching.
3. IMPLICATIONS
FOR UNIVERSITY
SCIENCE TEACHING
OF CHANGES
IN THE
WEIGHTINGS GIVEN
TO SCIENCE
SUBJECTS IN
THE TEACHING
FUNDING FORMULA
Reduction in the weightings means that students
will have less practical work and more PC-based simulation. A
reduction of laboratory bench-based sciences takes them further
away from the practical needs of industry.
4. OPTIMAL BALANCE
BETWEEN TEACHING
AND RESEARCH
PROVISION; DESIRABILITY
AND FINANCIAL
VIABILITY OF
TEACHING-ONLY
SCIENCE DEPARTMENTS
University teaching is stimulated by the development
of subject knowledge through research. Not all teachers need be
research active and not all researchers need be RAE-active. All
teachers need to be "scholarly active". For departments
to remain dynamic and attractive to teachers who are up-to-date
with new knowledge in their fields, opportunities for research
as personal and professional development need to be available.
There is no optimal balance that can be applied across all fields
of science and engineering, nor across all institutions. The balance
will also vary according to the mix of postgraduate and undergraduate
teaching provision. As the balance in any university tends towards
postgraduate teaching, the need for research-active staff increases.
5. IMPORTANCE
OF MAINTAINING
A REGIONAL
CAPACITY IN
UNIVERSITY SCIENCE
TEACHING AND
RESEARCH
Retaining regional research capacity is essential
for the economic well-being of the regions. However, it is applied
research (not the pure research that has traditionally been measured
by the RAE) that is of critical importance for wealth creation
in the regions. Pre-1992 universities tend to carry out research
for small numbers of large national and international firms. New
universities tend to focus on the needs of regionally based SMEs.
The research agenda of RDAs are not concerned with fundamental
research. They are concerned with applied research and knowledge
transfer on a regional scale, which is what the new universities
do best. However, the concentration of research funding through
the RAE has reduced the capacity of the new universities to deliver
this, particularly to SMEs who are not directly affected by the
outputs of pure research. While the research base of the old universities
may be important for attracting inward investment, indigenous
companies are more likely to benefit from the small-scale applied
research carried out by the post-1992 universities.
The new universities can also transfer the knowledge
generated by the fundamental research of the old universities
to regional users, but this requires that the new universities
are sufficiently research active to attend the conferences, etc
where the new knowledge is disseminated. In an era of rapid technological
change, dissemination via publications and students reaches the
market too late; for new knowledge to have an immediate impact,
it must be adopted, adapted and disseminated rapidly through research
networks and knowledge transfer channels. This implies the need
for old and new universities in any region to work closely together,
for both types of university to be research-active, but for an
inevitable division of labour between research and dissemination
activities to be recognised and for the support and encouragement
of two-way knowledge transfer between them. The new universities
therefore have an important role to play in maintaining a regional
capacity in science teaching and research, something that is often
overlooked.
6. THE EXTENT
TO WHICH
THE GOVERNMENT
SHOULD INTERVENE
TO ENSURE
CONTINUING PROVISION
OF SUBJECTS
OF STRATEGIC
NATIONAL OR
REGIONAL IMPORTANCE
Intervention may be needed on both supply and
demand. On the supply side, action is required at both secondary
and tertiary levels. Falling student numbers needs to be addressed
in schools, through stimulating pupil interest in science and
engineering. With the increasing financial pressure on students
to study in the regions where they live, declining regional provision
in some subjects in the regions will result in students being
less likely to study science and engineering in the future. Addressing
this will require financial incentives for students and/or action
to ensure that science and engineering departments in new universities
in the regions are given additional financial support to compensate
for the loss of RAE funds. Financial support, through third stream
Knowledge Transfer funding, is an essential element of this intervention
and it is important that any formulae derived from the distribution
of HEIF should not result in a further concentration of funding
in research-intensive universities to the detriment of the viability
of science and engineering in new universities. That is, intervention
is not just about supporting teaching facilities in research-intensive
universities.
Turning to the demand side, if there is no regional
demand for the labour of scientists, any additional investment
in science teaching will be lost to the regions. The RDAs' role
should be to stimulate this demand by promoting both inward investment
and SME development. As indicated above, the latter requires the
participation of research-active staff in new universities and
adequate funding for the knowledge transfer (KT) activities of
these institutions. HEFCE must ensure that the formulae that it
uses for the distribution of KT funds do not further undermine
the role of the new universities in this field.
January 2005
| 
