1 May 1992 Misconceived Attitudes No Help in Research Funding Debate

Misconceived attitudes among some bureaucrats and politicians have not helped warm New Zealand universities to the proposed new system for funding their research through the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology, said Lincoln University's Vice-Chancellor, Professor Bruce Ross, in his Graduation Ceremony address this afternoon (Friday 1 May).

He said that for some time there had been pressure to bring the universities into the new competitive bidding system operated by the Foundation and some of the supporting arguments were accepted by the universities. For example, there were many people in universities who could contribute very significantly to the national research effort if they were provided with sufficient resources.

"As members of the pool, if they submit a competitive bid to the Foundation they will get these resources; the national research effort will benefit, and so will the research effort of the individual involved. This is an obvious benefit to the universities."

However, one argument was causing universities considerable concern, said Professor Ross.

"Universities undertake a considerable amount of research which is ultimately financed by the Government, and the Government therefore feels it should have a greater say in how that money is spent. It has been suggested that a proportion of the universities' research funding should be diverted to the Foundation for Research, Science and Technology. This would allow the Ministry and the Foundation to dictate the general areas in which the money would be spent, and even to favour particular programmes.

"This suggestion, however, begs the question as to why the universities are financed at all. If it is accepted that the prime function of the universities is education; that research and the teaching of degrees are inextricably intertwined; and that academic freedom within universities is something which is valued by society, then it follows that in order to carry out their educational mission universities should be funded to do research, and they should be free to pick the subject of that research and to report on it freely.

"Since the fundamental educational mission of the universities; the fact that degrees should be taught mostly by people engaged in research; and the importance of academic freedom, are all enshrined in legislation, the universities believe that the attitudes of some bureaucrats and politicians are fundamentally misconceived," he said.

Professor Ross said the debate on research funding might seem of little importance to the person in the street but in reality it was a matter of fundamental principle bound up with the operations and traditions of modern universities.

He hoped the decisions to be reached on the matter in the next few weeks would be consistent with those university traditions and with current legislation.

In his speech Professor Ross also expressed concern about the Government's funding methods for tertiary institutions. The new flat rate funding per equivalent full-time student, regardless of the numbers involved, had placed a growth imperative on Lincoln, in order to cover its overheads and put it on an equal footing with the other universities.

"However, having applied this pressure to grow, the Ministry of Education has taken only limited account of Lincoln's success in rising to the challenge.

"In making its allocations for 1992 the Ministry effectively accepted in full the student number forecasts for colleges of education and polytechnics, but awarded each university only a proportion of its expected growth.

"Given our need to grow, this process was particularly hard on Lincoln University, and the result has been that we have received no Government funding for nearly 10 percent of our New Zealand students.

"It is hoped that this anomalous policy of apparently forcing growth on the one hand, through the structure of the financing system, and then refusing to follow through with the actual provision of the finance will be quickly sorted out," he said.

Five hundred and thirty-one students graduated from Lincoln University today, a new record number for the University. The list included 15 doctorates, another record high for Lincoln.

Ian Collins, Journalist, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand