University of Western Ontario Vice-President (Research & International Relations) Ted Hewitt fears the lack of commitment by the federal government towards funding the operating costs of research may result in a “brain drain” of researchers to countries such as the United States.
The proposed federal budget promises $2 billion for Canadian university and college infrastructure, but when it comes to direct research funding, he says it left much to be desired.
“The operating piece in the research puzzle is extremely important, especially given the investments we’ve had in recent years in infrastructure,” says Hewitt.
“We are building the labs, we are building the offices … and we have top people at Western and certainly elsewhere who are ready, willing and able to do world-class research. But, they desperately need the operating funding to help pay for grad students, for research assistants, to pay for technicians and the basic laboratory supplies.”
Hewitt spoke about the federal budget as part of his 2008 annual report on research at last week’s Board of Governors meeting. Given researchers received a significant lifeline in the past from the federal government, Hewitt says he was surprised to be left out in the cold this time around.
“Over the last few years, the amount of funding through the tri-council (SSHRC, NSERC, CHIR) went up each and every year, in part to reflect inflation but also reflecting the government’s desire to prioritize and properly fund research in Canada.
“The fact that this year there may be no increase – or possibly a cut – is deeply, deeply troubling as the system expands in every other respect,” he says.
Researchers rely on government grants to cover much of the operating costs of doing their work, says Hewitt. However, brand new classrooms and labs do not have value if there are no researchers to use them.
“Without those operating dollars, we are going to be in a very difficult position, our faculty will be in a very difficult position, as success rates start to fall or they don’t get the money they need,” he adds. “Although I am happy about the investments in infrastructure, I am very concerned the government in some respects hasn’t adequately recognized the means to maintain balance.”
It will be a few weeks before granting council budgets are finalized. “The absolute best scenario is no cut, which is not ideal,” says Hewitt.
Whereas the Canadian government is putting a halt on some research funding, other countries, such as the U.S., are casting new dollars towards researchers.
“We see in other jurisdictions, like the U.S., governments are committing new dollars to research. These countries, and the U.S. in particular, will become very attractive to people who may be struggling in Canada or are less able to secure the funding they need to do their work,” he says. “People go where the resources are.
“We don’t want them to go and if Canada doesn’t want them to go, we’ve got to make a commitment to fund research in all of its aspects.”
Although the federal budget appeared to pose some challenges for university research, Hewitt saw the commitment to invest $750 million in the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI), with which Western has been successful in the past in securing funds for infrastructure, and the investment in graduate student scholarships, as promising.
In spite of the infusion of infrastructure funding, Western officials say it will not curb the operating budget shortfall of the university.
The Board of Governors cancelled an $18.55 million investment income allocation from non-endowed fund earnings to the 2008-09 operating budget. Similarly, the $12.2 million one-time transfer to the capital budget to support the university’s Long-Range Space Plan and the $6 million one-time allocation to fund the university’s match of successful CFI initiatives were withdrawn.
