0.2 21st century economic development  (Page 9/13)

This bias has an impact on the way that research departments operate. Given the choice between producing an academic paper and working with industry, an ambitious academic is more likely to take the former option: that way lies extra funding for the department, and an increased chance of promotion. The Review came across a number of cases where departments had deliberately decided not to work with business in order to concentrate all their efforts on raising their RAE rankings.

In addition, the importance attached to Quality-related Research (QR) funding has tended to homogenise the research efforts of the university system. Less research-intensive universities invest large amounts of time and money in preparing for the RAE even though they may have very little hope of gaining significant extra funding as a result. Instead of concentrating on their own areas of comparative advantage – which may be of real value to their local and regional economy – they strive to be measured against a world-class benchmark.

Another criticism by business of the RAE is that it fails to give sufficient weight to multidisciplinary research. Because the assessment is undertaken by a large number of panels divided up on the basis of subject areas or units of assessment, it can be difficult to reward work that cuts across different disciplines – precisely the kind of research that is of increasing importance to business.

There are broadly similar concerns about the ways in which the Research Councils operate. One of them, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), has made a particular effort to develop collaborative projects with business. It says that such work represents around 40 per cent of its current research programmes, up from just 13% a decade ago. Other Research Councils have much less exposure to the business sector, with relatively few active business people on their boards.

There is no doubt it is easier for the EPSRC, which covers the engineering sectors, to develop collaborative links than it is for, say, the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council. All the Councils have mechanisms for funding research in collaboration with industry. These include set piece schemes which are often funded jointly with the DTI, such as LINK and Knowledge Transfer Partnerships; network-type projects such as the Faraday Partnerships; funding for joint business university projects; and the financing of PhD students in the workplace (Lambert 2003).

Over the past decade growth in Research Council funding has significantly outstripped the growth in QR funding. The increasing imbalance between the two funding streams has led some observers to question the present dual support system. Business has a real interest in the sustainability of strong university departments, and in public funding which supports creative and innovative research (Lambert 2003).

Universities as knowledge businesses in wales

The most notable contribution of Higher Education to the Knowledge Economy is the graduates it produces. The graduate outputs of Welsh Universities are a significant source of knowledge and skills. The Welsh HE sector employs over 17,000 people and is currently educating over 120,000 students, including some 45,000 in Science and Engineering. Additionally, the Welsh HE sector also supports a further 23,600 jobs in the wider community (HEFCW 2006).