Research: our colleges are starved

PUBLIC FUNDING of higher education research in Ireland is among the lowest in the OECD. The Netherlands and Finland spend four times more than Ireland, Denmark three times and Portugal twice as much. The damning comparisons are given in a new report which is critical of the lack of public acknowledgement of this chronic under funding and the absence of an official policy on university research.

The CIRCA Report on the organisation, management and funding of university research in Ireland and Europe was commissioned by the Higher Education Authority. It is based on a comparative study of 30 third level institutions in 19 countries and seven Irish universities. Twenty two of the non Irish colleges are prestigious international universities which are all heavily involved in research. The report is due to be distributed this week.

The HEA spends almost £40 million a year in support of post graduate research - mainly PhDs and Masters. This covers salary and supervision overheads. But according to CIRCA "this demonstrates a significant per capita under funding of higher education in Ireland which places the sector at the bottom of the OECD league.

Institutional funding via the bloc grant is inadequate, there are no research council structures and there is a lack of continuity in funding. CIRCA describes the funding of research equipment as "particularly bad". While "some centres have managed to maintain a high level of sophisticated facilities . . . the overall position is bleak."

The sector receives £2 million annually from the HEA for the replacement and upgrading of equipment. UCD researchers, for example, get only £1,000 per capita for equipment. "For institutions attempting to maintain a world presence in leading research areas, as well as accommodating a growing number of students, the position is untenable," the report says. One state of the art laboratory can cost millions of pounds to equip.

Despite coming bottom of the OECD's funding league, Irish university research is a success story. Despite chronic underfunding the universities bring in a total of £45 million annually in contract research revenues. They have created over 100 new small companies and more than 700 jobs and the sector employs over 1,000 contract researchers.

According to CIRCA, world output of science grew by 42 per cent between 1981 and 1991. During that period Irish university output increased by 51 per cent, which compares well with increases in Britain of 35 per cent and 44 per cent in Northern Ireland.

"Many areas of Irish university research appear to be at or above world levels," the report states and the quality of scientific research has improved significantly. The arts and humanities too are producing high quality work which is attracting considerable international interest. In view of the shortage of funding, "it is quite remarkable that the Irish universities have managed to improve - their research output and their contribution to industry and services in Ireland," CIRCA comments. But the fact that so little research funding comes from the Government means that the universities are forced to rely on EU and private sector sources.

As a consequence university research in this country is largely regulated by outsiders - or by what CIRCA calls "the invisible hand". The universities react to and are motivated by whatever funding opportunities are available. They are forced to take an opportunistic rather than a strategic approach.

The most prestigious universities in Europe are those at the forefront of research, according to the report. Academic institutions are now judged on their research output and in most OECD countries it is the universities' role in research that is most prized by governments. "There is a strong consensus that research is intrinsic to the very concept of a university," CIRCA says.

Irish universities have failed to keep pace with the changes experienced by their European counterparts and they are now lagging behind in a number of areas: Top foreign universities plan their approach - they have separate budgets for teaching and research. Their research is assessed externally while the quality of information on research output is continually improving. Most international universities have formal financial control systems for research, says the report. It sees the financial management controls in Irish universities as "rudimentary".

Proposals to create divisions or tiers between universities engaged in research are opposed by CIRCA. But, it says, universities should play to their strengths. Management of third level research must become more professional. Quality assessment and care and an improved transparency between teaching and research functions is vital.

CIRCA recommends that an additional £20 million be made available to support university research and the establishment of research councils. The universities must introduce procedures for the assessment of research quality and research care and produce annual research reports.

They should also publicise examples of their research and increase public awareness of the fact that basic research is critical to Ireland's scientific, technological and socioeconomic future.

University sources welcome the report's attention to the gross underfunding. However, they feel that report's view of deficiencies in the organisation and management of research must be seen against a background in which university research is dependent on outside sources. Under funding, overcrowding and under staffing have prevented universities investing in management, planning, quality control and evaluation, sources say.