The Scottish Government

This item was published during the term of a previous administration that ended in April 2007

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Five star research gets new investment

26/02/2002

Researchers at Scottish universities are to benefit from a £25 million funding package that is nearly three times the equivalent of that awarded in England.

The package covers Higher Education for the period up to April 2004 and comes in recognition of a sharp improvement in the quality of research in Scotland.

It includes an annual increase of £10 million to the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council's (SHEFC) research budget, and a one-off payment of £5 million to improve research facilities. SHEFC will add further funds to offset inflation and protect the value of today's announcement in real terms.

At a special celebratory breakfast, Enterprise Minister Wendy Alexander told representatives of Scotland's 19 top-rated research departments that maintaining the quality of Scotland's research base was fundamental to achieving a prosperous knowledge based economy. Ms Alexander also welcomed Roger McLure as the new Chief Executive of the Funding Council.

The number of Scottish departments emerging from December's Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) with 5-star rating has doubled, gaining 10 extra 5-star departments since the previous assessment. Staff working in top departments whose work is judged to be of international importance, has tripled to 600 since 1996.

After the breakfast Ms Alexander said:

"This new money is well deserved. Scottish Universities have been a jewel in the crown for many decades. I welcome the opportunity to celebrate their success and pay tribute to the major contribution our universities make to our society and our economy.

"The number of Scotland's 5-star Departments has doubled and research staff in them tripled since the last RAE. That compares with growth in 5-star rated Departments and research staff in the UK as a whole of just two-thirds.

"Of course I want also to praise those Departments which didn't make the highest rating but have nonetheless worked hard to raise their game.

"Together the Scottish Executive and our Universities are investing for the future. Supporting Scottish innovation and maintaining the quality of our research base is key to delivering a prosperous and successful knowledge based economy.

"In key areas for our economy the average quality of research here outstrips that in the UK as a whole.

"The Research Assessment Exercise found that Scottish Higher Education research has improved in quality by 18% since the last Exercise - faster than any other country in the UK. Our average score now exceeds the UK average and half of all our researchers now work in departments that are internationally competitive, having been rated 5 or 5-star.

"The Scottish Executive is boosting the drive to build a knowledge based economy. The £10 million annual investment is worth 9% in real terms. This is nearly three times the equivalent percentage increase in England announced recently.

"An additional £5 million for the current year will help our universities to make an early start on Science Research Investment Fund (SRIF) infrastructure projects.

"These additional funds will support the most internationally competitive research in our universities. But if we are to turn ideas into invention and innovation we need to create pipelines of support that take new ideas all the way from the lab into our high growth businesses of tomorrow.

"Today's announcement, added to the £80 million we have already made available for commercialisation, will help us to turn "invented in Scotland" into "made in Scotland" and create a country where people can develop their talents and bring up their families."

Scotland's 5-star rated Departments are:

The Scottish Higher Education Funding Council will be announcing detailed allocations of funding for research to individual Higher Education Institutions on 20 March.