Wellcome Trust rejects loan scheme

UNIVERSITY infrastructure is the sole responsibility of the government, says the Wellcome Trust in its response to the Dearing report.

The trust, one of the UK's principal funders of biomedical research, says it will continue to meet the direct research costs of the science it funds in universities, but reiterates it is not "a research charity's responsibility to pay for the general upkeep or running of a university or its basic fabric".

It rejects Dearing's joint public-private Pounds 500 million revolving loan scheme for university buildings and equipment, saying it does not believe universities will have sufficient future income to repay these loans with interest.