Research will be vital to Britain's recovery

By Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, Chair of the Russell Group and Vice Chancellor of the University of Glasgow

March 11 seems an age ago – a time of Brexit talks, Champions League football and open high streets. It was also the day of the Budget, a moment when Rishi Sunak reiterated the UK Government’s desire to see the country become a global superpower in science and research, unveiling the fastest and largest increase in R&D spending ever. This was a welcome vote of confidence in universities, a signal that science and technology would drive the UK forward and that higher education could be an engine for levelling up the economy.

If that was then, this is now: a world upended by Covid-19. For universities, this crisis has brought into focus not only the transformative power of our research but also the limitations of the current funding model.

UK universities are marshalling their resources at an unprecedented pace in response to the virus. At Glasgow, we are proud to have been named one of the UK’s three Lighthouse Labs, at the vanguard of efforts to ramp up the country’s testing capacity. The University of Sheffield has been producing PPE; at Leeds they’re mapping Covid-19 to identify local measures to prevent the spread of the virus; and pioneering teams at Oxford and Imperial are at the forefront of global efforts to develop a vaccine.

Yet, at precisely the moment when the value of our research is so clear, universities are confronted with their greatest financial challenge of modern times. On Monday, the Government announced a welcome package of measures designed to bring short-term stability to the sector. In England, funding has been brought forward and sector-wide agreement has been reached on student intakes.

But research remains the missing piece of the puzzle. In lieu of unlocking any new finance, the Department for Education and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy will instead convene a ministerial task force to examine how the research base can be sustained in these unprecedented times. This is certainly a step in the right direction, but one that must be followed through.

For those who have recently lost their job, or for business owners desperately trying to keep things afloat, universities may not seem the obvious choice for additional public investment. Those of us who care deeply about the sector would do well to recognise this – and be clear how increased spending on higher education and the research we support is a down payment on the national recovery.

What we face today is not a re-run of the last financial crisis. This time austerity cannot be the answer. Instead, we must back strategically important sectors with additional financial resources. These include universities.

Last year I produced a report for the Scottish government on how the sector can drive innovation forward. Many of these lessons still hold. Universities can leverage investment, act as beacons for global talent, bring academics and entrepreneurs together to create the high-growth companies of the future, and equip our young people with the skills they need to thrive. All this is put at risk by non-intervention, or a piecemeal package of support that fails to safeguard the UK’s research base.

No one should be expecting a blank cheque. Universities must understand that the current system cannot be preserved in aspic. But by working together around a national mission and clear set of common priorities, UK research can help shape an economy that delivers for all. That’s one thing that hasn’t changed since March.

This article was first published in The Telegraph on 6 May 2020.