Funding university research

Background

Developing a performance-based funding formula for allocation of research funds to the universities.  This policy is an example of good practice because: it links the allocation of research funding to the research performance gives a boost to the research production in terms of number of PhDs and in number of publications and citations.

The funding of the universities consists of different funding streams:

• a lump sum for teaching and research covering the recurrent costs of the core operations (staff, materials and exploitation costs); about 616 Meuro - a lump sum for basic research: about 125 Meuro
• a lump sum for knowledge transfer activities and commercialisation: about 12 Meuro
• a lump sum for student facilities (housing, restaurant and social services to students) of capital subsidies.

Aims and targets

The aim of the policy is:

• To increase the number of PhDs ;
• To decrease the time to graduation;
• To enhance the number and the quality of scientific publications.

Strategy and actions

The role of the government: intensive consultations with the universities in order to get an agreement. The universities have to develop a policy in order to make the reform work. The government has to increase the amount of money available in order to avoid a zero sum game between the universities.

In concrete actions: the government has adopted the funding regulations. The universities have developed a policy for stimulating the faculty to increase the quality and quantity of the scientific publications. The universities have developed an internal allocation model that was a mirror of funding model. The government has set up a supporting unit within a university which was charged with the gathering and the verification of the data needed for the funding formula.

Monitoring and evaluation

There was an evaluation paper written by the supporting unit. Using a bibliometric approach to support research policy making: the case of the Flemish BOF-key.

Funding/Cost effectiveness

Sustainability/Transferability

Outcomes/impacts

Achievements

Research output: there was an overall increase of the number of PhDs and there was an overall increase of the number of scientific publications and of scientific articles published in the best journals. Especially the university which was lagging behind in terms of research performance was equalizing its research output

Success factors

The agreement of the leaders of the universities. Providing extra funding. Using metrics (objective parameters) in the funding formula.

Unintended impacts

Strengths and weaknesses

Without extra money this kind of funding reform may be very hard to implement. Financial incentives and linking funding to performance have a very strong impact on the performance. Universities may align their internal funding to the disciplines for which it is easier to measure the output in terms of publications and citations. This may lead to a kind of a 'Matthew effect' within the universities being detrimental to the humanities

Curricular reform

Funding reform

• New models of funding
• Cost effectiveness.
  
  
  

Governance reform

Management reform