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Wales let down in science again

At the third economic summit, the Secretary of State for Wales stated that

"Wales had to prepare to a future upturn in the economy in terms of research, development, training and skills",

Ironic, therefore, that when the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) announce £250 million of funding for 44 Ph.D training centres in science and engineering, NOT ONE OF THESE WILL BE BASED IN WALES.

Certainly, I would expect him to ask the Minister for Science why this is the case as, under the normal Barnett rules, at least £12.5 million should have come to Wales.

Is there any wonder, as a recent report stated, that Welsh universities are underfunded when the none of the additional science funding made available by the UK Government comes to Wales.

I would sincerely hope that one of our MPs - perhaps the Secretary of State himself - will ask why Wales keeps losing out in this way?

Comments

Anonymous said…
what do you expect from a Government who wont appoint a Chief Science Officer for Wales they prefer to borrow the UK Government's as and when needed, it has taken Rhodri, Ieuan and Paul this long to say were are in a recession for christ sake we have no chance.

Im a Welsh Voter Get me Out of Here !!!
December 07, 2008 5:34 pm
Anonymous said…
i must say i was surprised with this as, as you kow, this is the top-end of HE and does not send a good signal to possible future PhDs recruitment in Wales. However, in terms of funding the convergence funding can and does help the majority of welsh HEIs - but as swansea now find out to their cost...when the funding runs out what happens to the staff? was the funding/research sustainable in the first place i wonder...obviously not

not a good move for Wales and "our" knowledge economy..
December 09, 2008 8:58 pm
Professor Dylan Jones-Evans said…
I was surprised too and it doesn't bode well for the research assessment exercise which is being announced in a couple of weeks. Does Lord Drayson know something we don't? Certainly, if Wales further behind England in terms of our research rating, then heads will have to roll.
December 09, 2008 10:03 pm
Anonymous said…
the EPSRC shouldn't know any more than you or I but...

if RAE is poor in Wales then it will be a disaster for each of the traditionals who have gone to such an effort to score high - but so has the rest of the uk!

Cardiff and swansea in particular must be scathing to have missed out - swansea for its hi technology work in particular

But saying all that there are many big hitters not to feature too - liverpool, glasgow, aberdeen's oil & gas centre, open, durham's solar work etc

i wonder what harm this will do - or is that the intention? specialisations directed via central governmental agencies - but at what cost to the rest?

dependence on overseas PhDs will now be huge for some....
December 09, 2008 10:26 pm
Anonymous said…
Swansea seems in deep trouble, led by an unpopular vice-chancellor who is banking everything on a good RAE score. What happens to all thos expensive professors he has appointed if they don't perform. I have ou are also heard that cardiff are dampening their hops for the RAE. If so, then you r right -heads will role, starting with hefcw
December 09, 2008 10:47 pm
Anonymous said…
swansea's life sciences work on unstructured data seems a good step forward, as did/does the advanced telecoms work in particular but yes it does seem that the vc has upset quite a few.....
December 09, 2008 10:55 pm
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