Stagnant higher education R&D spending could be of concern for science review

Higher education funding of R&D in Canada remains in the doldrums as a small 0.6% increase in FY14-15 failed to offset the cost of inflation. Total spending was 12,873.2 billion, up just $71.2 million from the year before. When using constant 2007 dollars, FY14-15 spending declined 1.2% from FY13-14 and 3.7% from FY12-13.

Federal support for higher education R&D, which dropped 2.1% in FY12-13, declined a further 3.3% in FY14 to $3.0 billion, breaking a string of impressive increases stretching back more than a decade.

The decline promises to be a major point of contention for the review of federal support for fundamental science which is being chaired by Dr David Naylor, former president of the Univ of Toronto, and overseen by Science minister Kirsty Duncan. The Liberal government has stressed the need for a balance between fundamental research and the commercialization of ideas in order for innovation to be effective in contributing to sustainable economic growth and new jobs.

Provincial support also continued its slide, dropping 3.2% to $1.1 billion after experiencing a 13.4% decline the previous year (R$, September 8/15).

The biggest gainer is the private non-profit sector, which grew 9.5% to $1.24 billion. In stark contrast, foreign sources of funding plummeted 27.7% to just $108.3 million.

Funding provided by the higher education sector held its own, registering an increase of nearly 1% to $6.4 billion — accounting for 49.5% of the total — 67.4% for the social sciences and humanities and 43.9% for natural sciences and engineering. (The federal government is the primary source of funding for R&D spending attributed to the higher education sector). Natural sciences and engineering accounted for 76.2% of the FY14-15 total with spending of $9.8 billion, up 0.7% from the previous year.

The social sciences and humanities remain unchanged at $3.1 billion.

Provincial allocation

Ontario and Quebec continue to dominate as the largest higher education spending provinces with $5.2 billion and $3.3 billion respectively. Together they account for 66.3% of the total. British Columbia ranked third with $1.4 billion, followed by Alberta ($1.3 billion), Nova Scotia ($411 million), Manitoba ($377.9 million), Saskatchewan ($310.2 million), Newfoundland ($236.3 million) , New Brunswick ($179.4 million) and Prince Edward Island ($36.7 million).

R$