29th October 2002

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The University of Ulster is mounting a high-profile lobbying campaign to reverse the chronic under funding of university research in Northern Ireland.

The aim is to alert the public and key opinion formers in Northern Ireland and Westminster to the dire consequences of the Government’s continuing failure to properly fund work vital to the Province’s economic, social and cultural future.

Briefing packs are being sent to:

• The Secretary of State
  
• NIO Ministers
  
• NI’s 100 top businesses
  
• Northern Ireland’s MPS and MEPs
  
• Religious leaders
  
• University research partners
  
• Charities, voluntary organisations, representative bodies

A programme of Westminster briefings is being organised by Universities UK, the representative body for the UK university sector, at which NI’s MPs, and Northern Ireland spokespersons in the Commons and the House of Lords will hear the case for enhancing the research capacity of Northern Ireland’s universities.

The unprecedented publicity blitz follows the now-suspended Executive’s Draft Budget announcement, in which university research and development failed to receive the funding it urgently deserves.

Key points from the University’s campaign include:

1. Block government funding for research in Northern Ireland’s universities decreased by 20% in real terms between 1992/93 and 2000/01, compared to an increase of 23% in GB universities during the same period.
   
2. Scottish universities will benefit from an extra £70 million of ring fenced research funding for the next three years, and some £250 million has been awarded to universities in England.
   
3. University research in the Republic of Ireland received €305 million in the period 1999/2001, with the single aim of making their institutions ‘world class research centres’.
   
4. The funding famine prevents NI from attracting and retaing the finest researchers and scientists.
   
5. NI’s universities do well in the UK league tables for outstanding performance, but languish at the bottom of league tables for government investment.

Professor Gerry McKenna, the University of Ulster’s Vice-Chancellor, said that government must recognise the outstanding research performance of Northern Ireland’s two universities and their ability to contribute to growth and progress.

He added: “University research is cost effective, strategic and deploys world class scholarship and facilities in solving the major problems facing our community. Whether it is in the field of health, in such as cancer or heart disease, or the economy or the environment or social problems, funding given to university research is a gilt-edged investment. It is even more important in Northern Ireland where we need to progress at a greater rate than the other regions in the UK merely to catch up.

“I believe that government is getting the message from the community and political representatives that this region must not be left behind. I look forward to the announcement of a fair and proper level of funding in the Budget Statement”.

For further information, please contact:

Press Office Department of Communication and Development
Telephone: 028 9036 6178
Email: pressoffice@ulster.ac.uk