University-sponsored research income enjoys respectable increase in FY06

Non medical schools gain ground

Sponsored research income at Canada's universities enjoyed a healthy 6.4% increase in FY06 to $5.53 billion driven by solid growth from the federal government, endowments and non-corporate funding. While the rate of increase is an improvement on the tepid 3.2% hike in FY05, it's a far cry from the glory days of double-digit increases during the build-up in Canada's academic research base.

According to data complied by Research Infosource, a sister firm to RESEARCH MONEY, top-ranked Univ of Toronto increased its funding 7.7% to $763.5 million while the Univ of British Columbia jumped to the #3 spot with $421.2 million.

Notable trends for FY06 include the increase in the share of overall research income by institutions without medical schools and the wide range of increases across the country. Research funding at universities without medical schools increased 16.3%, accounting for 20% of the total compared to 18% in FY05.

The larger share was driven by the institutions such as: the Univ of Victoria which jumped to 40.2% to $100 million; an impressive rise of 133% at Laurentian Univ to $38.6 million; and a 18.9% jump at the Univ of Guelph to $149.6 million. Other non-medical institutions that experienced significant increases include École de technologie supérieure (+106.1%), Univ of Northern British Columbia (+90.2%), Trent Univ (+80.8%), St Mary's Univ (+43.6%) and Univ of Prince Edward Island (+30.1%).

In contrast, universities with medical schools increased research funding by 4.2%, dragged down by decreases in several larger institutions. Of the Top 10-ranked institutions, McGill Univ, Univ of Alberta, Univ of Calgary and McMaster Univ also experienced drops in research income.

Universities in British Columbia and Atlantic Canada all registered increases in the double digits while those in the western provinces suffered modest decreases. The 17 institutions in Ontario achieved a respectable 8.9% increase while Quebec's 12 universities managed 2.9% growth following a major decline in FY05 (R$, November 2/06).

One of the more troubling aspects of the FY06 is the shrinkage of support from provincial governments. While federal funding sources increased by nearly 10% to $2.7 billion, provincial funding fell 6.5% to just over $1 billion. Much of the provinces' funding is tied to support for Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) projects in their jurisdictions. Although the results of the last major CFI competition were announced in late 2006, the associated funding likely was not registered for that year.

funding sources

The FY06 data show the increasing influence of non-corporate and endowment sources of research funding. Non-corporate funding was up 1.2% to $777.4 million for a 14% share of the total, while endowment funding jumped 23.6% to $81.1 million for a 1% share. Corporate funding increased 4.7% to $728.7 million for a 13% share.

In addition to the federal government's $2.7 billion in direct funding, it also supported research through the granting councils and CFI. Aggregate funding from these sources was $1.9 billion for a 35% share of the annual total. Non-government funding was $1.7 billion for a 31% share.

FMI: www.researchinfosource.com

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