Universities Scotland has submitted its response to the Scottish Funding Council’s review of the Research Excellence Grant and Research Postgraduate Grant consultation SFC/CN/04/2014.
Key points from our submission:
- Research Excellence Grant proposals. We support uncoupling the funding provided to support non-charity research/charity income from that provided in recognition of research volume and quality. The proposal to distribute a fixed proportion of REG on the basis of ‘quality and volume’ is both sensible and in line with the rest of the UK. It is important that this is based on the overall REF scores, rather than any disaggregation of them; such a disaggregation would only add further volatility to REG funding. However, before moving forward with implementation it will be necessary to consider the implications of a specific proposal.
- Research Assistants and Research Students. We agree with the SFC proposal to remove the number of research assistants and research students from the REG formula.
- Research and charity income. We support the SFC proposal to revise the REG model such that research income and charity funding are uplifted based purely upon the volume of this funding.
- Research Postgraduate Grant. We do not believe there is a compelling reason to alter the approach for calculating the RPG.