Quebec institutions shine in a year of modest university research income growth

Increase hits 10-year low

Quebec institutions came out on top of a mediocre year for university research funding with a gain in total research income that was nearly triple the average of the nation's Top 50 universities. While the Top 50 universities posted a 2.2% year-over-year gain in FY11 to $6.63 billion, Quebec's 13 universities boosted their take 6.1% to $1.79 billion. That contrasts with Ontario's performance, which saw total research income for its 18 universities decline 2.2% to $2.51 billion, despite a 4.4% gain the Univ of Toronto — the nation's largest research-intensive university.

FY11 is the poorest performance by the Top 50 in a decade, according to Research Infosource, a sister firm to RE$EARCH MONEY which compiled the data and has been tracking university research income since 2001. Overall, 34 institutions registered gains and 16 experienced declines.

"The increase doesn't even match inflation. There was no CFI (Canada Foundation for Innovation) money flowing last year and there's been a strong drop-off in support from provincial governments," says Research Infosource CEO Ron Freedman, noting that the constrained funding environment is boosting competition among institutions. "Within the community, some universities did very well and some not so well. There's still lots of room for improvement if individual institutions get their act together."

In addition to Quebec, universities in several other provinces performed well above average. Strong gains at the three largest universities in British Columbia helped boost the provincial total 5.8% to $781.9 million for a 12% share of the Top 50 total. Other provinces that exceeded national the average were Saskatchewan (10%), Alberta (4.1%), Nova Scotia (4.8%) and Prince Edwards Island (7%).

Ontario continues to command the largest single share with 39% (down 1% from FY10), followed by Quebec which boosted its share 1% to 27%.

Among the nation's largest universities — the so-called U15 — #5 ranked McGill Univ posted the largest gain, boosting its sponsored research income 10.3% to $522.9 million. The largest declines were registered by #6 ranked McMaster Univ (17.6%) and Queen's Univ (17.1%). Among the tope 25, the Univ of Sherbrooke posted the largest gain, increasing 30% to $145.5 million and moving up two positions to #16.

The Univ of Quebec at Chicoutimi registered the largest gain in the Top 50, increasing 111.1% to $34 million to leapfrog from #38 to #27 on the annual ranking.

Each year, Research Infosource names the top universities for the three categories of institutions. The Univ of Toronto was named the top medical/doctoral university; the Univ of Waterloo was named the top comprehensive institution; and the Univ of Lethbridge was named the top undergraduate school. They were selected on the basis of research and research intensity, total number of publications and intensity and publication impact (citations).

Looking ahead, Freedman sees 2012 as another year of little growth in research income. "There will be a CFI competition announced this year but the money won't flow for at least another year following the decisions," he says. "Many provinces have also not committed to future matching of CFI contributions."

FMI: www.researchinfosource.com.

R$