Skip to main content

So much for a small clever country

An article in this week's Times Higher shows that Welsh universities are falling behind their English counterparts in terms of research funding.

According to the academics' trade paper

"Universities in Wales have been left aggrieved by the news that this year's increase in research funding is half that enjoyed by English institutions. Concerns have been raised by individual universities and by their representative body Higher Education Wales (HEW) that last week's grant allocations will leave them struggling to compete.

Whereas research funding for English universities has increased by 8 per cent for the next academic year, their counterparts in Wales received a rise of 4 per cent. The biggest loser was Cardiff University, which got £2.2 million less for research, while the largest percentage increases in research money went to teaching-led institutions such as Swansea Metropolitan University. Teresa Rees, pro vice-chancellor for research at Cardiff, warned that the difference between the settlements would hit Welsh institutions hard. She said: "This is no time to be having a funding gap."

However, that's not the end of it as it would seem that the Assembly and its quango, the Higher Education Funding Council, may be preparing to cut funding even further, thus widening the gap with English institutions still further

"On top of the individual woes of some Welsh institutions, it has emerged this week that the sector's funding allocations may not be as solid as they seem. A caveat in the 2009-10 grant letter says it is possible that funding could change. David Blaney, the HEFCW's director of strategic development, said the clause was linked to "general economic circumstances" and that the sector was being alerted to the "possibility" and not "probability" of any change. Even so, this prospect worried some, who said any change would be a cut in funding.

So much having a clear policy to support the development of a "small clever country" and this in a week where business leaders have called for companies not to abandon training.

Shame that the Assembly Government sees so little merit in supporting the engines of the knowledge-based economy that we will need to get out of recession quickly.

Comments

Anonymous said…
total madness. The Assembly has completely lost the plot on education. Jane Hutt destroyed the welsh NHS and now she is about to do the same for education.
Anonymous said…
If the unis were managed better, perhaps they would deserve more money
Anonymous said…
If Cardiff University actually conducted more research relevant to the needs of Wales I'd have more sympathy. To expect the Welsh taxpayer to subsidise an institution that has in many cases turned its back on its own country is absurd. All power to the business school and to Governance centre as for some of the others "if you're so great and Wales is so unimportant push off!"

Popular posts from this blog

THE IMPORTANCE OF FRANCHISING

When we talk about start-ups and entrepreneurship, rarely do we discuss the potential of franchising not only as a way of establishing new ventures in the economy but also as a method of growing existing businesses. According to the British Franchising Association, franchising is the granting of a licence by one person (the franchisor) to another (the franchisee), which entitles the franchisee to own and operate their own business under the brand, systems and proven business model of the franchisor. The franchisee also receives initial training and ongoing support, comprising all the elements necessary to establish a previously untrained person in the business. This enables individuals to start their own businesses without having to develop their own ideas and utilising an existing brand and established market. Of course, whilst each franchise business is owned and operated by the franchisee, the franchisor controls the quality and standards of the way in which the business is

THE MANUFACTURING STRATEGY FOR WALES

Last night, I received the following comment on the previous post relating to a piece I had written back in early 2007 about the state of the manufacturing sector in Wales. "Dylan, you seem to be ignoring the fact that manufacturers in Wales have written the manufacturing strategy. Small and large manufacturers, all represented at the Manufacturing forum, have co-written this strategy. WAG has recently supported this strategy and have funded a co-ordinator with resources. Manufactures are happy with this progress as they are following the strategy they wanted. I know that the Conservatives have attacked the strategy as they seem to think that WAG wrote the strategy. They couldn't be more wrong. The Manufacturing Strategy was written by manufacturers, for manufacturers and is supported by WAG. If you don't agree with this, then I can invite you to the next Manufacturing Forum and you can explain to the manufacturers how their strategy is wrong....I appreciate that there is

THE PERFECT STORM FACING THE UK ECONOMY

In his sublime 1997 book on the fate of the fishing boat Andrea Gale, the author Sebastian Junger defined a “perfect storm” as a rare combination of events or circumstances that results in an unusually bad situation.  This term would not be out of place in describing what is currently happening to the UK economy which is being battered on so many fronts with little respite in sight. For example, the war in Ukraine has had an unexpected impact on energy bills in Europe due to the curtailing of exports from Russia which, last year, was responsible for supplying 40% of all natural gas to the European Union. Whilst the UK is not dependent on Russia for its energy needs, the scramble by other countries to find alternative sources has resulted in higher prices globally which has impacted on the fuel imported by the UK with normal suppliers struggling to meet demand. There have also been considerable supply constraints globally which have been driven by manufacturers struggling to get their g