Funding and Regulation in the UK - Report Example

Summary This report outlines the national and international context in which research funding takes place. Focus is given on two important areas, ly: funding and regulation particularly in the UK context. Related issues covered also include ethics and legal factors in academic research in the country. Additional issues are included in the international context including the barriers in international research collaborations. This report cites the trend in academic research, which is increasingly geared towards intense competition for research funding among new academics and researchers - a consequence of governmental policy and regulation which prioritized a small segment of UK academic institutions. National Context The government policy in the United Kingdom towards academic research is guided by the objective of creating universities that are of international standing and excellence or world class and that it is perceived that the best means to achieve this is primarily through selective funding of university research. (Lucas 2006, p. 32) An important aspect in regard to research grants in the United Kingdom is the evaluation. The Research Assessment Exercise was set up for this end and is conducted jointly by the four UK Higher Education Funding Councils. RAE’s mandate is to produce quality profiles for research submissions used to determine grant for research. (RAE 2008) The purpose of the RAE follows: To enable the higher education funding bodies to distribute public funds for research selectively on the basis of quality. Institutions conducting the best research receive a larger proportion of the available grant so that the infrastructure for the top level of research in the UK is protected and developed. (RAE 2000) The RAE allocates institutional funding on the basis of assessments of research performance of university departments and institutes and selectively funds those that perform best. As research funding becomes increasingly concentrated to a smaller number of institutions, a divide is feared between research and teaching universities in the UK. According to Lucas, this trend is anchored on the Humboldtian ideals which consider the idea that universities being involved in research and teaching in equal measure is impossible and cannot be resourced. (p. 168) Nonetheless, the RAE system is able to stimulate excellence in research and performance of UK higher education institutions. As a matter of fact, in the most recent evaluation, the percentage of institutions receiving a rating of 4 or above increased dramatically and those rated poorly decreased to 6%. (OECD 2002, p. 169) While the objective of the RAE has been realized, it became increasingly resource-intensive. The slow increase in funding is stretched too thin to cover the growing number of institutions that qualify for grants and the nature of researches requiring huge resources. One of the regulatory statute that covers educational and academic research in the UK is the Data Protection Act of 1984. Of the principles which do concern research data, the two most important are probably: 1) the principle that states that personal data shall not be used or disclosed in any matter that is incompatible with the purpose for which they are held, in this case research; and, 2) the principle which requires appropriate measures to be taken against unauthorized access to or alteration, disclosure or destruction of data. (Burgess 1989, p. 15) It is clear that the main role of the Data Protection Act in regard to academic research in the UK is to ensure a thorough examination and review of the prevailing security practices regarding personal data, both online and off. Other research considerations in the UK context include research ethics. This domain is covered in the teaching of research ethics in the universities and is often conjoined with legal issues, particularly that pertaining to compliance with the Data Protection Act or the relevant health and safety legislation. The law demands understanding and compliance and researchers will do well to be familiar with these aspects in order for research to be done successfully and with integrity. The British government also encourages partnership with researchers in the field of education and the private sector with the idea that such collaboration would benefit both. This is the time when an educational research could acquire commercial implications. Research students, for instance, could identify areas in the educational field that could prove to be of interest to a private company. The company could provide the funding and the researchers pursue the research work. Once completed the company could use the information or the general outcome of the research to develop an educational product, for instance, or improve on existing ones.. International Context An increasing number of research today is no longer confined to one country and that this achieved a global character in breadth, subject and in application. Particularly, international research often involves collaboration between individuals and groups with varying experiences and resources. In line with this, it is important to underscore that despite the usual issues that confront conventional research in the education field undertaken in a specific community or country, there are additional challenges that are present. The most prominent of these include barriers of distance, language and culture. In line with this, Stephen Hulley (2007) raised the following points: Opportunities for face-to-face communication between colleagues are limited. Language differences superimpose communication barriers caused by distance. Cultural differences can cause serious misunderstandings between researchers and their subjects or between researchers themselves. (p. 295) Fortunately, advances in technology solve some of these problems, particularly those concerning distance and communication barriers. Nevertheless, some of them still pose as challenges and, hence, must be dealt with by researchers. In regard to funding, rich nations are always the source for research grants especially when collaborations are between institutions coming from a rich and poor country. When this is not the case, funding could be sourced from international organizations. Implications In the national context, the research and research funding scenario is characterized by increasing competition for funding and the issue of regulation. This has resulted in the governmental policy of grants disbursement according to the ranking system achieved through the RAE. The number of research and the manner in which resources are allocated depends on a system that benefits only a small segment of the research community. This has adverse effect on the individual merits of researches undertaken by new academics and postdoctoral education students because of the current system’s preoccupation with institutions. An underlying issue in regard to this paper’s discussion of academic research is the understanding of the standards of good research practice. As this paper have outlined, there are codes, and ethical standards that were developed and set in place, which define what good practice is and aims ensure that a research has integrity and undertaken through credible processes. The above issues and challenges that are relevant to new academics and postdoctoral researcher also apply in the international context. Then, as this paper, has outlined, there are additional challenges involved, namely, communication and cultural barriers. In regard to international collaboration especially between institutions coming from rich and poor countries, funding disbursement results to an important relationship dynamics. As donor funding tends to flow through the institution in the rich country, it reinforces the subordinate positions of researchers coming from the institutions of the poor country. References Burgess, R 1989, The Ethics of educational research, New York: Routledge Hulley, S 2007, Designing clinical research, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Lucas, L 2006, The research game in academic life, McGraw-Hill International. OECD 2002, OECD science, technology and industry outlook 2002, OECD Publishing. RAE 2000, RAE 2001? RAE Online < http://www.rae.ac.uk/2001/Pubs/industry/annexb.htm > RAE 2008, RAE 2008: Research Assessment Exercise. RAE Online Read More