University research budgets need to triple by 2011 to meet Canada’s innovation targets, AUCC Trends report

The Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) has issued a wake up call to the federal government, warning that its much vaunted innovation targets are unattainable unless university research spending triples over the next nine years. In a report released October 15, the AUCC says universities will need an unprecedented $6.4 billion in additional research funding and $6.2 billion in new operating funds by 2011 to respond to rising demands for R&D, growing student enrolment and the need to hire up to 40,000 new faculty.

Universities currently receive about $10.7 billion in total operating support and conduct approximately $3.2 billion in sponsored research annually, according to the report, Trends in Higher Education. Of that $3.2 billion, universities receive $1.43 billion from the federal government, primarily through the granting councils, $635 million from provincial governments, $603 million from industry, and $537 million from other sources. The 94-page report, which includes chapters on enrolment, faculty, research and finances, uses data from Statistics Canada and other sources to paint a comprehensive picture of the current state of higher education in Canada and growth scenarios for the next decade.

Canadian universities, which contribute one-third of all national R&D, have seen their research budgets increase 35% since 1997 as a result of higher spending by the federal and provincial governments, and more collaboration with industry. But while the public sector investment has increased substantially in recent years, the report notes that its share of the total pie has shrunk from 28% in 1990 to 18%. In contrast, R&D funding from Canada’s private sector rose from 39% to 42%, while foreign support almost doubled from 9% to 16%.

The AUCC stresses that without sufficient teaching and research capacity and resources within universities, Canada cannot meet its target of becoming one of the top five R&D nations in the world by 2010. That same message was delivered in July by AUCC to the federal government’s Innovation consultation process.

“(The report) reinforces what the government itself has acknowledged over the past few years – that Canada’s research investment is lagging compared to other countries,” says Lawrence Aronovitch, senior policy analyst at AUCC. “The federal government has certainly gone a fair distance in trying to address that lag. The message here is ‘that’s great, but don’t stop now because you haven’t finished the job’. There’s still significantly more that needs to be done in order to realize the potential of university research in the country.”

The need for $6.4 billion in new research funding assumes that Canada’s GERD-to-GDP spending ratio must increase from 1.8% to 3.0% for the country to rank among the world’s top five. The current average for OECD countries is 2.2%. As for how the new money would be spent, AUCC recommends a doubling of the budgets of the three national granting councils, a permanent program to pay for the indirect costs of research, and a new 10-year capacity building program providing block grants to smaller universities.

Dr. Jacquelyn Thayer Scott, past president of the University College of Cape Breton (UCCB), says a new funding program is needed to help smaller universities enhance not only their academic research, but also commercialization, incubation and community development.

“Unless you consider Canada to be solely a collection of city states, there are some sub-regional areas that have a significant population,” says Thayer Scott, current president of the UCCB Foundation. “The universities in these second tier cities can play a real role in terms of a transition of those communities to a more diversified economy or knowledge economy.”

With increased funding for research and operating costs, universities say they can dedicate more resources to technology transfer. In its submission to the Innovation Agenda process, AUCC said universities would commit to triple their gross revenues generated by commercialization. In 1999, Canadian universities generated $22.6 million in revenue from intellectual property and held $55 million in equity through the 454 spin-off companies they created.

NOT ENOUGH PROFESSORS

Over the next decade, universities are anticipating a 20-30% increase in enrolment, or about 200,000 new students, with a record number entering Master’s and PhD programs. To meet the demand, AUCC says universities will have to hire up to 20,000 more faculty, in addition to another 20,000 new professors that will be needed to replace retiring staff. As the faculty numbers increase, so does the demand for more research.

The report points out that on average, faculty spend about one-third of their time on research. But with resources already stretched to the limit, the AUCC says professors are finding it difficult to keep up with their research priorities. In the last two decades, the number of professors has increased by about 10% while sponsored research funding in real terms has increased by 170%.

“The national push in Canada to increase research and development, together with the heightened emphasis on commercializing research results, will place more demands on faculty in the years ahead,” the report states. “Unless universities have the money to hire significantly more faculty, the emphasis on research could lessen faculty members’ ability to deliver high quality teaching.”

While acknowledging that all research funders have a responsibility to contribute more, the AUCC stresses that the federal government must take the lead since it has made research and innovation national priorities. “It’s certainly not unreasonable to expect the federal government of the country to take a leadership role in something that is, by its own definitions, of strategic importance to the country,” says Aronovitch.

The last Trends report was published three years ago. The current report is available at: www.aucc.ca.

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