Canadian universities enjoy another strong year for sponsored research income

Research intensity at Canada’s universities took another major jump in FY03, increasing 9.7% to $124,300 in sponsored research income per full-time faculty. The latest surge means that research intensity has increased 46.2% since 2000 when it was $85,000. Overall, sponsored research income enjoyed a 12.6% annual increase in FY03 for a total of $4.28 billion compared to $3.80 billion in FY02.

McGill Univ remains the most research intensive institution in the country at $238,100, followed by the Univ of Montreal ($217,900), McMaster Univ ($214,500), Queen’s Univ ($214,500) and Laval Univ ($208,100). The Univ of Toronto is next at $198,300.

“This is the best single indicator of how the system is doing,” says Ron Freedman, CEO of Research Infosource and co-publisher of RE$EARCH MONEY. “Research intensity for 2003 is the highest in history.”

The findings are contained in Canada’s Top 50 Research Universities List 2004 — the latest report on sponsored university research income from Research Infosource Inc, a sister company to RE$EARCH MONEY. The report was compiled using data from Statistics Canada and all institutions are members of the Canadian Association of University Business Officers.

Freedman describes 2003 as a “solid year” for university sponsored research income and a continuation of the renaissance universities have been enjoying for the past seven years. But there is a caveat.

“Most of the increase is on the backs of governments. This year, corporate spending was up by just 5% so that business funding makes up 14% of the total, down from 15% last year,” says Freedman. “This does not bode well for the commercialization agenda. You need to see growing linkages between the academic and corporate sectors.”

GOVERNMENT SOURCES STILL STRONG

Universities received 69% or $2.94 billion of their sponsored research income from government sources, with $1.94 billion provided by the federal government, $873 million from the provinces, $106 million from foreign sources and nearly $16 million from municipalities.

The remainder — 31% or $1.3 billion comes from non-government sources. The corporate sector is the largest funder with $591 million, up 5% for 14% of the overall total. Significant amounts also come from not-for-profit organizations ($342 million, up 11.9%) and foundations ($260.8 million, up 36.1% million ). Rounding out non-government sources are investments, endowments and miscellaneous ($116.4 million down 6.8%) and individuals ($33.6 million, up 32.9%).

Total government support was up 13.4% in FY03 while non-government funding increased 11.0%.

Of the government funding received by universities, $1.5 billion or 77% flowed through the three granting councils and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).

Science and Engineering Canada (NSERC) funded $508.3 million in research (an increase of 6.1%) closely followed by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, which increased 19.6% to $506.6 million. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council provided $113.3 million, up 9.4% from the year before, while CFI funding jumped 80% to $371.3 million. The Canada Research Chairs was responsible for an additional $108.6 million, also up 80% from the FY02.

“The question is, can we expect to see these kinds of increases forever,” says Freedman. “We’ve been through a period of strong federal surpluses but the provincial economies are not as strong as the federal level. And the provinces are now balking at funding all federal-provincial activities.”

Ontario is home to the largest single portion of sponsored research income with its 17 universities attracting $1.64 billion for a 38% share. Quebec follows with 13 universities and income of $1.28 billion or a 30% share. Four British Columbia-based universities secured $476 million (11%) while three Alberta-based universities attracted $445.8 million (10%). Two Saskatchewan universities attracted $135.5.3 million and the Univ of Manitoba drew $130 million to its home province.

The increases or decreases in sponsored research income for individual universities is not as meaningful as the aggregate data due to variations in reporting timelines. But it should be noted that the Univ of Toronto registered a 17.1% increase to $534.4 million, making it the first university in Canadian history to breakthrough the half billion dollar mark. Of the major universities, the Univ of British Columbia registered a 61.4% increase to move up into the # 3 spot.

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