Universities UK has urged the government to increase research funding in the autumn budget, warning chancellor Rachel Reeves against “tucking in” the costs of Horizon Europe participation.
The representative body’s submission to the Treasury ahead of the budget on 30 October says that the government should set an “ambitious” target for investment in research development as a proportion of gross domestic product, covering both public and private spending – and that quality-related research funding should be increased.
The UK’s last GDP-based research spending target, set at 2.4 per cent, was achieved in 2022 following a revision of how the Office for National Statistics records small businesses’ outlay.
Since then there have been repeated calls for ministers to set a new target, with requests stretching as high as 4.2 per cent.
UUK said the new target should be one that “matches the most competitive and innovative countries in the world”.
The former Conservative government had set a target for public expenditure on research and development to hit £20 billion during this academic year, and the UK was thought to be on course to hit this, with a bigger target of £22 billion pushed back to 2026-27.
However, there have been reports that the Treasury could deliver a flat-cash settlement, while also wrapping the costs of associating to Horizon Europe into the existing funding envelope.
This would deliver an effective cut in funding for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and other agencies, with the cost of Horizon participation thought to run to as much as £1 billion.
Meanwhile, the urgency of increasing QR-related funding was underlined by recent data showing that universities across England and Northern Ireland racked up a £4.6 billion deficit on their research activity in 2022-23, recovering just 68.4 per cent of their total costs.
The UUK submission also calls on the government to “stabilise university finances” in England by increasing tuition fees in line with inflation and by boosting the Strategic Priorities Grant.
And it says that the value of maintenance loans should be increased in line with inflation, alongside an uprating of household income thresholds, which determine loan value eligibility and have been unchanged since 2008.
Vivienne Stern, UUK’s chief executive, said that the higher education sector was “a national success story that the government cannot afford to let slide into decline”.
“We’re now at a pivotal moment where if we invest in university teaching and research, we will see the benefit across the economy, communities and to people’s lives,” Ms Stern said.
“But if universities are neglected in the autumn budget, we risk sliding into decline with the UK falling behind in an area where today, it has a considerable advantage over its global competitors.”
