'Jobs risk' in research shake-up

Only the better research would count

Jobs will go if the government's plans to reform university research funding go ahead in England, a study suggests.

The impact will be felt most in the East Midlands, say researchers, while London and the South East will benefit.

The study was commissioned by Universities UK, representing the chief executives of Britain's universities.

The government intends to focus on excellence but the universities are warning of unintended, damaging consequences.

The government has increased the amount of money it gives to universities for research, but has said it wants to concentrate funding in the universities which do world class research.

'Betrayed'

In January, the government announced an extra £1.25bn for higher education research up to April 2006, which will mean universities have twice as much to spend compared with 1997.

Most of it will go to the 55% of departments classified as nationally or internationally excellent in the 2001 Research Assessment Exercise.

The government claims this will encourage research in larger units and lead to more collaboration.

Universities UK chief executive Baroness Warwick said many academics felt "betrayed" by the move to concentrate research funding on a narrower range of departments.

The study, carried out by consultants Evidence Limited, looked at the possible impact the changes outlined in the White Paper would have.

Evidence Limited director Jonathan Adams said the UK was second only to the US in terms of quality of research, but other countries such as Germany were closing the gap.

"Concentration will reduce diversity. One of the characteristics of UK research is that it is diverse.

"This is undoubtedly one of the reasons why the UK performs so well," he said.

"There is no evidence that concentration in large units is going to deliver better performance.

"But what we do find is that if there is concentration, there are significant regional impacts."

Oxford, Cambridge and London would benefit, research suggests

The study concluded that the concentration of research in fewer centres would favour the South, South East and eastern England at the expense of other regions, particularly the East Midlands.

The Scottish and Welsh funding councils have decided against further concentration of research funding, said Mr Adams.

The East Midlands has Nottingham, a member of the elite Russell Group of top British universities, as well as others including Nottingham Trent, Leicester, Lincoln, Staffordshire and Loughborough.

The study said although Nottingham could expect to get more cash under the proposals, it would suffer if other universities in the region lost out and contributed to a local down-turn.

But Nottingham denied it would suffer.

'Not so'

A spokesman said: "There will be no job losses at Nottingham and no effect on our research ambitions, as the authors of the report accept. Indeed they say Nottingham could expect to get more cash, but suggest that the East Midlands region as a whole could suffer."

Nottingham enjoyed strong research funding, particularly from the private sector, and was currently celebrating the award of the Nobel Prize for Medicine 2003 to Sir Peter Mansfield for his work on magnetic resonance imaging.

It recently announced a plan to create 20 new research professorships, with associated academic jobs and start-up funding for new projects.

It was "not dependent upon the research wellbeing of any other university", though committed to regional partnerships.

"We feel our strength will help the East Midlands as a whole to remain a major player in the research field."

However, Baroness Warwick said of the Evidence Limited study: "The important message for the government is the policy they are pursuing will not produce the outcome they had expected, and we now have the evidence to prove it."

'Strategic investment'

The university and college lecturers' union Natfhe welcomed the report.

Its general secretary, Paul Mackney, said: "The report endorses what many organisations including Natfhe have said about the damage which further research concentration will do to English universities and some regional economies.

"It is unfortunate that policy proposals should reach this stage to be met with such widespread criticism and contrary evidence."

Sally Hunt of the other main lecturers' union, the AUT, said: "The government says it values emerging research and yet it is cutting funding - with some exceptions - to the very departments that undertake it.

"We're totally opposed to the notion that the only way to increase internationally excellent research is by asset-stripping the rest."

A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills said: "The report reinforces the high quality of research in the UK.

"But we cannot be complacent. That is because other international competitors like Australia, China and India are making big strategic investments in their best research and if we do not do the same we will slip down the research league.

"Concentration and collaboration are strategically necessary to ensure that we keep our place in the world."