Scottish research funds cut

Millions trimmed from budget as funding becomes less concentrated, writes Alison Goddard.

Scotland’s universities are "locked in a furious row with Scottish National Party ministers over a ‘short-sighted’ decision to cut their funding for world-class research", according to an article in the Daily Telegraph. It points out that the announcement comes just days after Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister, published her economic strategy which stated that supporting world-class research was "at the heart of the Scottish government’s ambitions for Scotland". The Times says that the cuts threaten to jeopardise the international competitiveness of Scottish universities and the Herald reckons that Scotland could lose its competitive global advantage. The Scotsman has an interview with Tim O’Shea of the University of Edinburgh in which he criticizes the plan to cut £8 million from its budget next year and £14 million the following year. The cuts arise from a decision to fund research rated 4* in the Research Excellence Framework at three times the rate of research rated 3* in the exercise. Research Fortnight, our sister publication, says that many smaller universities will make gains.

Staying north of the border, the Herald says that the University of Edinburgh conducts more animal experiments than any other institution in the UK, according to figures from the British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection. The Herald says that the University of the West of Scotland has been forced to defend its hiring practices after the principal’s girlfriend landed a £500-a-day consultancy job that had not been publicly advertised.