New funding instrument for European universities?

New funding instrument for European universities?

Deborah-Fay Ndhlovu

European universities want the European Union (EU) to prioritise the commercialisation of research and the introduction of simpler rules when creating the next Framework funding programme.

The EU is preparing a new funding instrument for research and development to replace the seventh Framework programme (FP7) which will end in 2013.

The 27-member EU must still select the committees who will decide on the name and topics for the new funding instrument, but its research community is already laying out their expectations on what the new funding instrument will entail.

The 22-member League of European Research Universities (LERU), an association of research-intensive universities, is among those who laid down its expectations in a recently-published paper .

LERU, which is based in Belgium, says the EU should use simpler funding rules that do not require researchers to submit timesheets. It urges the EU to eliminate the requirement "matching funding" if it is to successfully harness science for economic growth.

"The financial regulations for research need to be simplified and adapted to the needs of the research community,'' according to the report, whose main author is Stijn Delauré, EU research policy advisor of the Belgium-based Leuven Catholic University (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) . "The requirements for timesheets should be removed and the recovery process of reporting and auditing needs to be limited."

"The financial regulations need to support the financial sustainability of universities. Matching funding should be avoided as it leaves universities with serious funding shortfalls," says the LERU report, which has contributions from Lluïsa Baltrons and Anna Massaneda (Barcelona University, Spain), Greta Borg-Carbott and Michael Browne (University College London, UK), Angelo Casertano (Milano University, Italy) and Miles Davies (Karolinska University, Sweden), among others.

In April 2010, Mmboneni Muofhe, the chief director of international relations at South Africa's Department of Science and Technology, told delegates at the Cape Town congress of the International Network of Research Management Societies, that FP7 offers successful researchers between 50 to 75 percent of the funding for which they apply. Institutions then have to raise the remaining funds from their own revenue or request additional funding from their governments.

The LERU report, entitled 'Towards an Effective 8th Framework Programme for Research,' says simplifying the funding rules is crucial to help universities play their role of "knowledge creation, research and innovation."

"It is more than ever important that the EU guarantees enough funding for a broad spectrum of excellent research in universities, especially at a time when public funding for universities at the national level is under considerable strain. The Framework Programme is one of the best tools through which the EU can stimulate and support research," the LERU says.

LERU warns that Europe is losing research and development ground to the US, Japan, China and India. It wants to see a significant increase in investment from the 51 billion Euros allocated for the FP7 and a shift towards encouraging "industry involvement."

It also calls for a coherent and transparent peer review system that will see the timely announcement of evaluation panels and provision of detailed feedback to applicants.

LERU, founded in 2002, aims to influence policy and develop best practise in education throughout Europe. The league is currently led by Kurt Deketelaere who is a part-time professor at the University of Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) in Belgium.

Links
League of European Research Universities (pdf 151KB)