Tag Archives: Funding

Meet Birkbeck’s 2023/24 Chevening scholars 

Each year the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office offers the prestigious Chevening Scholarship to promising students chosen for their leadership potential and academic promise. For academic year 2023/24 Birkbeck welcomes 21 Chevening scholars hailing from all corners of the world. Here, we get to know some of them a little better.  

Ahmed Maki from Iraq, studying MSC Entrepreneurship 

Ahmed has dedicated himself to the fields of business development and entrepreneurship. His professional journey has been impactful, involving collaborations with international NGOs and private sector companies to nurture the growth of SMEs and start-ups in Iraq. His dedication to advancing the private sector in his home country reflects a profound commitment to economic development and entrepreneurship. 

“I applied for a Chevening scholarship for the 2023-2024 cohort with a dual purpose. Firstly, I aspire to join the ranks of international leaders who serve as ambassadors for their respective countries. Being a Chevening scholar would enable me to represent Iraq globally, contributing to the international assembly of leaders. Secondly, Chevening is not merely an academic scholarship but a transformative, lifelong experience. I anticipate gaining valuable lessons throughout my Chevening journey, building a global network, and utilizing global expertise and progress in entrepreneurship to bolster the entrepreneurial sector in my home country, Iraq, and elevate it to the status of a developed nation in this domain.” 

Leena Shibeika Izzledin Mekki from Sudan, studying MSc Geography  

An architecture graduate from the University of Khartoum Leena turned into an urbanist and is currently pursuing MSc Geography at Birkbeck. 

“I consider myself a social activist and leader who’s driven by an endeavour to challenge the status quo, and I’m passionate about advocating for Urban-Social Justice in cities. 

I applied to Chevening because my aim is to facilitate my role as an urban researcher and geographer to reach out to and work for and with vulnerable communities, specifically women; internally-displaced-persons; and citizens who exist within informal habitats and work settings in Khartoum. I acknowledge their struggle as a compass for my work. I aspire to contribute to Sustainable Development Goal 11; Sustainable Cities and Communities and work specifically in ensuring access for all to housing and basic services and enhancing sustainable urbanisation and participatory planning in Sudan.” 

Sidhant Bali Maharaj from Fiji, studying MA Gender and Sexuality Studies 

Selected as a UN Women 30 for 2030 youth leader in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, Sidhant is an Intersectional Queer Feminist Activist from Fiji with over 8 years’ experience working in the areas of Women, Girls, LGBTQI+ rights, and Youth Empowerment. 

“After the completion of my MA in Gender and Sexuality Studies, I plan to further my research in Fiji and the Pacific and work more closely with the public and private sector in developing/updating more inclusive and diverse policies that has women and LGBTIQ+ community as safe guarded categories shifting from the gender as binary narrative.”

Elena Nechaeva from Kyrgyzstan, studying MA Digital Media Management

A journalist, producer, documentalist, presenter, video blogger, co-founder of the public fund Media Space, and media trainer from Kyrgyzstan, Elena started her career on television in 2011 covering breaking news and making feature stories.

“My long-term goal is to launch a large-scale project in the media sector of Kyrgyzstan and make it sustainable. It will embrace the creation, development, and promotion of new media on different platforms and support and training for beginner bloggers who create helpful and socially significant content.”

Iddi Yassin from Tanzania, studying MSc Sport Management

Admitted to the Tanzania Mainland Bar Association in 2016, Iddi practiced law as an Advocate of the High Court of Tanzania.

“I applied for Chevening in 2023 because it is arguably the most prestigious scholarship programme with remarkable scholars and alumni networks from different social, economic, and political backgrounds. My long-term plan is to become a football agent and managing young athletes in Tanzania to fulfil their career ambitions in global stages, hence with the extensive skills acquired from my postgraduate studies this will be achieved through a rich network to support my vision and career plan.”

Aslan Saputra from Indonesia, studying MSc Business Innovation

CEO and Founder of Gumugu, an IT company that provides paperless services and digital education systems that have been used in several cities throughout Indonesia and Malaysia, Aslan also founded a coworking space in his hometown of Aceh in Indonesia.

“My long-term plan for the future is that I want to expand my business outside of Indonesia, especially in Southeast Asia and several European countries, and with the Birkbeck and Chevening alumni network, I hope that my plan will come true.”

Iván Luzardo Ruiz from Uruguay, studying LLM Law General

A Human Rights lawyer, Iván has worked for the Human Rights Unit of the Presidency of the Republic of Uruguay, responsible for investigating Crimes Against Humanity during the last dictatorship in Uruguay. He has also been involved with the nationwide volunteering programme called Free Legal Clinics which provides free legal advice and representation in court to more than12,000 people per year. 

I was highly honoured by being awarded the Chevening Scholarship 2023-2024, as this is one of the most prestigious and high-level networks around the globe. Being a Chevening Scholar means taking part in a broad group of like-minded future leaders who aim to develop and build impactful and meaningful changes while studying in a spectacular and inspiring academic environment. This allows us to strengthen our relations with others, improve the projects we want to develop, and expand its beneficial impacts.” 

Rama N’Diaye from Mali, studying MSc Entrepreneurship

Passionate about entrepreneurship, Rama is the Associate Director of Programmes and Partnerships at Impact Hub Bamako in Mali, where she supports young people with their entrepreneurial dreams. In her role as Communication Coordinator of the National Council of Business Incubators and Innovation Centres of Mali, she played a pivotal role in fostering a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem, leading her to be a key speaker at the World Bank Group Regional Youth Summit in May 2023.

“Gaining education in Business development and Innovation strategy combined with my experience, will help me acquire the capability to work in an extensive range of senior functional and general management positions across a wide spectrum of business sectors in Mali and the whole region. 

By sharing knowledge through education and networks with Malian entrepreneurs, I can play a key role in helping young entrepreneurs. With my international Chevening network and knowledge I want to create more opportunities for entrepreneurship advancement in Mali. Overall, I intend to put the new skills and knowledge I will have acquired from my education in the UK into good use in Mali like I have done so in the past.”

Nodar Rukhadze from Georgia, studying MSc Government, Policy and Politics

A journalist with a background in human rights activism, Nodar graduated from the Georgian Institute of Public Affairs (GIPA) with a Social Science degree. In 2019, he co-founded the Shame Movement, which rapidly evolved into Georgia’s leading civil platform. Nodar has orchestrated over a hundred demonstrations and ten informative campaigns, significantly influencing government policies. A highlight of his activism was the historic demonstration on June 20, 2022, advocating for Georgia’s European integration. 

Understanding the crucial role of young, educated leaders in mitigating Georgia’s political challenges, Nodar is currently focused on activism and campaigning, with ambitions to enter politics. Nodar’s vision encompasses expanding civil organizations’ influence and building consensus among diverse policy stakeholders. He aspires to see Georgia join the European Union and NATO, believing in the power of young Georgian leaders to realize this goal.

Ian Tarimo from Tanzania, studying MSc Business Innovation

A dynamic social entrepreneur from Tanzania, Ian is the recipient of the prestigious Leadership Impact Award from the US State Department’s Young African Leadership Initiative. He has also been recipient of the Builders Africa Future Award by the African Diaspora Network.

He is also the Founding Executive Director of Tai, a social enterprise utilizing data, storytelling, and technology to create educational and entertaining content, including 3D animations, radio drama, music, and comics.

Felix Hollison from the Solomon Islands studying LLM Law with Pathways – Law and New Technologies

A Lawyer by profession Felix has worked as a Senior Crown Counsel in the Attorney-General’s Chambers in Solomon Islands from 2015 to June 2019 before joining the Central Magistrates Court of Solomon Islands in June 2019 as a Principal Magistrate.

“The phenomenal changes in technology transform the way society operates in ways that have consequential effects on the law around the globe. My country is susceptible to the adverse effects of technological changes such as the erosion of democracy, climate change, cybercrime, biotechnology, political radicalisation and automation to name some. 

I wish to gain the necessary academic and professional knowledge to assist my country navigate through these uncertain times. Modernising my country’s laws to keep abreast with the technological and normative changes is a must and I wish to be an agent of change in my country.”

Find out more about:

Share

“Working whilst studying has helped me financially as well as boosted my career”

Janos Bato, BSc Business student, aged 19, is working as an operations analyst whilst studying. In this blog, he delves into his experiences of working whilst studying at Birkbeck, how he found moving to London, and his ambitions for the future. 

Daytime freedom 

I wanted to find a university where I could have freedom in the day to work, and discovered Birkbeck, which was the perfect option. When I started my degree, I joined a property management company as an operations assistant, and have since been promoted twice within a year to my current role of an operations analyst. I’m developing analytical skills, problem solving, and time management skills through this role, which is setting me up well for the future. 

Funding my lifestyle 

Financially, working whilst studying has really helped me fund my lifestyle and education. I often use my earnings to buy new books and enrol on courses, for example in the last few months I’ve been learning about programming, and I’ve invested in books about how to set up start-ups. I’m heavily investing in learning about tech because it’s going to be a driving force in the future. 

Birkbeck set me up with a mentor from Goldman Sachs 

Being mentored by a senior person in such a prestigious company has taught me a lot about professionalism and how to advance my career. It was a six-month programme, but I’ve kept in touch with my mentor and have been to the Goldman Sachs office several times. It inspired me to apply to be a Birkbeck mentor and support someone else so I’m currently mentoring a first year Birkbeck student. I also signed up to be the Business course representative as I’m trying to gain as many experiences as I can. The academics are really helpful and encourage students to be interactive in classes, so I want to help this process and assist in creating a course that is shaped on the needs of students.

I found it easy to settle in London 

I moved to London in 2021 into student accommodation. I was surrounded by students from many different countries, and I found everything was on my doorstep. I always recommend studying abroad to others – it’s an amazing opportunity that provides you with new experiences and the chance to meet new people and learn about different cultures.  

London is a haven for learning about perspectives 

As London is such a metropolitan city, I’m gradually learning how other people view the world.  I was born in Hungary and went to an International School in Moscow for my A levels, so I’m used to living in different places. The more I travel, the more I learn. One of my goals is to not stay rooted in one country in the future. I always want to roam around and move from one place to another. 

My ultimate goal is to run my own business in the future 

My plan is to build a product or service that benefits society. For example, I think there’s a need for a social media platform where people can fact-check what’s true and what’s not, as well as access useful information that elevates them as professionals and individuals. But I don’t think I can really plan ahead too much as the business landscape is always changing. Once I’m in a position to start my own business, I’ll figure out what I’ll do then. 

Further information 

Share

Securing the Future of the NHS. A Missed Opportunity? Or Dodging the Issue?

Dr Walter Beckert’s research examines patient choice and competition in healthcare. He reflects on the future of the NHS and the Tory Leadership candidates’ proposals to secure it.

The NHS is an almost universally revered institution in the UK. It is built on principles of social justice and equity, and arguably it embodies the nation’s social conscience.

But as the constraints under which the UK as a society and economy operates dynamically evolve — reflecting years of austerity, Brexit, the COVID pandemic, the cost-of-living crisis –, so do our experiences with the NHS, as a healthcare provider, as a system preventing people from poverty due to ill health, and as our collective capacity to care. It is difficult to make GP appointments, patients face long waiting lists for many elective and also urgent procedures, A&E units are often overwhelmed, and the system exhibits outcomes that are middling relative to health systems of similarly developed countries. There is also recent evidence of an accelerated drive of patients toward self-funding some of their medical treatments, as a means of bypassing the constraints in the system. The system’s public funding (10.2% of GDP in 2019) lags behind the levels seen in countries like France (11.1% of GDP in 2019) and Germany (11.7% of GDP in 2019), with austerity leading to cumulative underinvestment in the NHS and social care over decades.

This raises the question of whether this system in its current form is fit for purpose, constitutes value-for-money, and how it could gainfully be adapted and improved.

One avenue of ongoing gradual change has been the marketization of the system. That process introduced competition between NHS providers and also with private providers. It also decentralized the system, devolving budgetary and organisational powers to the local level. And it introduced an element of mixed public – private funding. Research (Beckert and Kelly, Health Economics, 2021) shows that publicly funded patients may benefit from privately provided capacity, albeit often in a less than equitable manner.

Mixed systems exist elsewhere, e.g. Australia and the Netherlands. And along some metrics their outcomes tend to outperform the NHS’s outcomes. However, the pre-pandemic performance within different funding models was more varied than performance across the models. The funding model itself is not the issue. What matters is the organisation of the system and the level of funding.

The contenders for the Tory leadership — and hence the next Prime Minister – so far have barely touched the NHS crisis, notwithstanding calls for an honest assessment by the head of the NHS Confederation and others, let alone have they advanced any concrete proposals for change that go beyond opaque elimination of bureaucracy. Liz Truss’s apparent commitment to reverse the recent National Insurance rise, intended to bolster the system’s funding position, appears to even aggravate the funding constraints.

But funding is just one element of a necessary national discussion of what we do and reasonably can expect from a healthcare system.  Healthcare systems only affect around 20% of our own health: The rest is due to a wider determinant set of health, including social determinants such as the level of poverty, unemployment, stress, etc. Short-term focussed policy debates typically offer headline grabbing quick fixes. They fail to acknowledge that healthcare – like education – is a long-term investment in health, the economy, and broader societal welfare.

Further Information

Share

Introducing our Chevening students 2020 part two

In this second instalment of our Chevening series, and ahead of the application deadline for the 2021 Chevening scholarship, we meet scholars from Albania, Brazil, Cameroon, the Dominican Republic, Rwanda, Turkey and Zimbabwe.

Rogerio Henrique Ferreira Miranda, Brazil, MSc International Security and Global Governance

Rogerio Henrique Ferreira Miranda

Rogerio Henrique Ferreira Miranda

Rogerio Henrique Ferreira Miranda’s academic background comprises of undergraduate degrees in Geology and in Law, postgraduate degrees in Management of Electric Sector Companies, International Executive and Technology, Management and Sustainability. Rogerio has just retired as a Security Manager and Director Chief of Staff in Itaipu Power Plant (the largest producer of clean and renewable energy in the planet) where he worked for 30 years, and where he designed important corporative programs such as the company innovation award.

After his Masters at Birkbeck Rogerio plans to become a college lecturer.

Mbiwan Eyere Takor, Cameroon, MSc Education, Power and Social Change

Eyere Takor

Mbiwan Eyere Takor

“Over the last 45 years I went from being just me to a wife and mother of four daughters and a son, to a teacher, mentor, educational administrator and founder of several social organisations as I explored a passion for social justice and empowerment.

In this time, even though the world has gone through many changes with targeted policies to improve access to education and opportunities for growth, women and girls are still at a big disadvantage as compared to their male counterparts.

I applied to Chevening because it has a reputation for being fair, inclusive and high achieving. Here I am at almost 69 with a Chevening scholarship to study at the prestigious 200-year-old Birkbeck, University of London. Again, Chevening alumni include formidable talents that are great resources to their countries around the world.”

Eva Shimaj, Albania, MSc Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability

Eva Shimaj

Eva Shimaj

“Working in an international business organisation made me realise the potential resources that companies can put into communities is immense and what is most needed is a change of vision, going towards ethical, environmentally-oriented and sustainable business practices. This motivated me to start this new journey and study Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability. This would have not been possible without the support of the Chevening Scholarship program, which I thank for giving me this opportunity. It is a proud moment for me to be part of this network of excellent scholars and future change-makers.”

Freemen Pasurai, Zimbabwe, MSc Human Resource Development and Consultancy

Freeman Pasurai

Freeman Pasurai

“My life story glides on the back of a fractured past and not even in my formative years did I ever imagine studying in the UK. Nothing less but my faith assured me that the things which I had never dreamt of can become a reality.

In high school I was fascinated by poetry and it’s a passion I’m still pursuing as a poet.

My breakthrough years came when I went to Midlands State University to study for a Degree in Human Resource Management. I became the Student Representative Council President and graduated with a Book Prize Award. Thereafter, I joined Econet Wireless Zimbabwe where I gained experience in customer experience, training and development and human capital management. I also assumed the role of President for the company’s Toastmasters Club which perfected my public speaking skills and leadership abilities.

I was enthralled by the reputation of the Chevening Scholarship and how much it has developed leaders across the world. I chose to apply with an understanding that in the UK ideas come alive and the ultimate Chevening experience provides a platform for leadership growth and professional networks that last a lifetime.”

Carolina del Carmen Pichardo Hernandez, Dominican Republic, MA Investigative

Reporting

Carolina Pichardo

Carolina Pichardo

“Since 2017 I have worked as a reporter for the oldest and most important newspaper in the Dominican Republic “Listín Diario”, where I write features about different topics such as Government, Education, Health and daily news.

But my main passion is investigating. For that reason, I have written features about the adoption system in the Dominican Republic and the orphans of murdered women. With these articles, I have won multiple journalistic prizes in my country.

I applied for Chevening because studying in the UK on a one-year scholarship will give me the bravery and independence I need to reach all my personal and professional goals. And of course, Chevening is the best way to study in a prestigious British university while meeting future leaders from all over the globe. “

Mariam Camara, Guinea, MSc Public Policy and Management

Mariam has ten years of experience in management, capacity building and skills development programmes. Currently, she is the Human Resources Manager of the Guinean State Mining Company, where she promotes skills development for employees.

In 2017, Mariam was selected by the US Department of State as a Young African Leader for the Mandela Washington Fellowship programme.

Her professional goal is to take a leadership role in the social and economic development of her country by promoting education, local content development, women’s empowerment, good governance and transparency.

Elif Harmanci, Turkey, MSc Business Innovation with Entrepreneurship

Elif Harmanci

Elif Harmanci

Elif’s passion for social entrepreneurship can be traced back to her college years. Whether as a full-time volunteer for four years in an award-winning NGO working in innovation and technology, or a regional finalist in Hult Prize Challenge in London, Elif has been on social innovation journey from the start, collaborating with students from diverse areas including visually-impaired peers, refugees and the pupils under legal protection.

As a person who is committed to developing an impactful social enterprise in the future, Elif is honoured to be a Chevener. She sees the UK is the centre of innovation and Chevening offers her the opportunity to meet and work together with innovators and leaders from diverse backgrounds who all wish to make the world a better place.

Sarah Busingye, Rwanda, MSc Business Innovation with Entrepreneurship

Sarah Busingye

Sarah Busingye

Sarah Busingye, a digital catalyser consultant, is an experienced face-to-face and online trainer with 10 years’ experience in the financial sector. She has delivered training on technical skills (e.g. banking, microfinance, digital finance, credit management) as well as soft skills (e.g.Leadership, Project management, Human resource management, Communication, Staff training, Client training, Customer service, Transformation). She is also an expert in trainers’ training and in systems for staff performance management.

Having served in different capacities on both the formal and informal sectors Sarah is passionate about tackling issues that impact the development of informal businesses, such as the lack of skills and education.

She is intent on using the professional and academic skills she will gain at Birkbeck to improve her community.

Find out more about:

Share

What’s the best way to raise funds for a startup?

Alexander Flint Mitchell, MSc Business Innovation with Entrepreneurship alumnus and founder of Blind Cupid shares his experience of raising capital for his business venture.

Picture of business man launching into the air.

Like most first-time entrepreneurs, Alexander was a total novice when it came to funding startups before setting up his own business.

Having now secured £175,000 to launch, with the prospect of completing fundraising over the next six weeks, he shares his experience of raising capital for a startup.

Angels and venture capital

When Alexander began fundraising for Blind Cupid, a matchmaking app that uses systematic philosophy and artificial intelligence to match users based on their fundamental values, he took a traditional route of approaching angels (high net worth individuals who provide financial backing for startups) and venture capital firms.

“We contacted many venture capital companies and had some very successful conversations with them,” explains Alexander. “These companies are usually specialists in a certain field and it’s common to be asked to deliver as many as five or six presentations to secure funding. While we would obviously spend some of this time talking about the business idea, the key thing to get right was the financial information.”

The downside of this method of fundraising? Time.

“Venture capital funders are demanding and even getting a response from them, never mind retaining their interest, requires a lot of time and effort,” explains Alexander. “There’s a lot of back and forth, often with your whole team needing to attend calls or presentations, which can feel never-ending when you’re in it.

“We also faced difficulties with our product not fitting neatly into a specialist area. The app we’re developing combines matchmaking with brand new artificial intelligence that has never been built before, and so there are no investors currently specialising in it. Given the amount of money that venture capital funds invest, it’s understandable that they would prefer to go with something tried and tested. We raised around half the funds we needed through this method, but I began to look for alternatives to speed things up.”

Gaining crowd appeal

Many different methods of fundraising are covered in the Entrepreneurial Venture Creation module taught at Birkbeck, among them crowdfunding.

Alexander admits to being sceptical to this approach: “I had the impression when I started that crowdfunding was on a smaller scale and more about conventional ideas than disruptive new businesses – I had no idea that companies do their series A and series B rounds on crowdfunding.”

While individual investment amounts can be much smaller, as little as £10, on crowdfunding sites, Alexander now sees this as an opportunity:

“Compared to venture capital, crowdfunding is a really quick and innovative way to finance startups,” he says. “The main difference is that our investors through crowdfunding are likely to also be our users, which is really exciting. Even if they only invest a tiny amount, they will benefit from a future IPO – it’s similar to holding shares in the stock market.”

The personal touch is also something that appeals to Alexander and the ethos of Blind Cupid:

“We aren’t just trying to match people together; we really want to make sure that these matches are accurate and that once you meet someone you will stay together. We’ve done it for 80% of our beta test users, and now we want to do it throughout the rest of the UK and world. It’s an unusual business concept in a way, because we don’t want people to come back – we want people to find the person that’s right for them.

“Our business model is very different from other players in this market because of this — and other reasons. We offer a premium service which gives our users access to podcasts, blogs and more written by experts that advise them on every aspect of their lives. Topics include how to discover who you really are, what self esteem is and how to build it, how to nurture a healthy relationship and more.”

Blind Cupid have now launched their crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube. For Alexander, it will be a relief to move to the next stage:

“When you’re looking for funding, it feels like it’s never-ending, but I know that when it’s complete I‘ll forget the months that it took. Many things in life are a learning curve and you find what suits you best. It’s great to finally see it all come to life.”

Further information

Share

How to ask your employer for sponsorship

Picture of a man holding a piggy bank.

If you’re in employment and have a place to study on one of our programmes, you may be eligible for employer sponsorship.

Employer sponsorship is when your employer pays for all or part of your tuition costs. This is usually in recognition of the fact that your studies will benefit your work in some way.

For many of our students, a Birkbeck degree allows them to seek a promotion or to perform their role more effectively. Here’s how to discuss your educational ambitions with your employer.

Find out what’s available in your organisation

Before approaching your line manager about sponsorship, do your homework so you know what definitely is or isn’t available.

Larger firms may have established sponsorship schemes with an application process, while others may operate on a case by case basis.

If you can’t find anything on your company website, your HR learning and development lead will be able to help.

Consider your motivations for study

Take some time to think about why you want to study your chosen course. Will it help you develop the skills to perform a technical aspect of your role? Will it provide a theoretical underpinning to help you manage complex problems? Will you gain a broader understanding of how to differentiate your organisation in the sector?

Once you have a clear understanding of why you want to study this particular course, it will be easier to translate this into reasons why your employer should be interested.

Demonstrate the business case

To secure employer sponsorship, you will need to show the positive return on investment it will provide for your employer. Perhaps the skills you gain in the course will enable you to apply for a promotion and stay with the company for longer. Developing your knowledge of an area of the business might make you more efficient, enabling you to take on more responsibility. Link the programme description to objectives in your current role to show the direct value for your employer.

Show your commitment to learning and development

What have you already done as part of your continuous professional development (CPD) that can show your commitment to your career? It could be as simple as reading around the subject, attending a webinar or signing up for in-house training. Your employer will want to be confident that you will make the most of the opportunity that they are investing in.

What if I can’t get sponsorship?

Employers often have limited budgets available for staff learning and development, so don’t be disheartened if you’re unable to secure funding. Having demonstrated your commitment to your professional development and to the organisation, it is worth asking whether there are any alternative opportunities for you to develop your skills, such as shadowing another employee.

You can also find more information about what alternative financial support is available for our students on the Birkbeck website.

Share

Do we still need public research funding?

This article was written by Dr Federica Rossi from Birkbeck’s Department of Management and Professor Aldo Geuna from the University of Torino

r-and-dThe last few decades have witnessed the increasing privatisation of the public sphere – even in the realms of education and research, which, until recently, almost exclusively pertained to the public sector. Evidence from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries shows that the slow but steady increase in private sector Research & Development (R&D) expenditure as share of GDP has been accompanied by a parallel drop in public R&D expenditure since the 1980s. A mere handful of economies buck the trend, such as that of South Korea. This has recently been referred to by Birkbeck’s Professor Daniele Archibugi and Dr Andrea Filippetti in their new paper as the “retreat of public research”. In the most advanced economies this retreat might seem, at face value, to support the claim that public intervention in research is unnecessary, if not completely counterproductive to sustain technological progress.

Most economists agree that public research funding is crucial for economic growth…

The mainstream view that public funding of basic research is necessary for technological progress to occur, relies on two, intertwined arguments that were first put forward in the 1940s and 1950s, and have been reiterated in various forms ever since. The first is the argument, which is embraced by scientists but originated in management schools, that innovation is a linear process whereby basic research discoveries pave the way for subsequent applied research and technological development. The second is the argument put forward by economists that basic research is characterised by large externalities and extreme uncertainty in the timing and nature of its outcomes, which make the computation of returns extremely difficult and discourages private companies from investing. Basic research outcomes tend to be very abstract and codifiable; this vulnerability to copying further discourages private investment in their production.

Together, these arguments suggest that, in order to sustain a rate of technological progress that is sufficient to drive continuous growth, the economy needs to produce a continuous amount of basic research outcomes, which would not occur in the absence of public funding.

…but some think that public research funding is unnecessary…

Those calling for a reduction in government funding of science have, in turn, put forth several arguments to oppose the mainstream view. The first is that the linear model of innovation is not only too simplistic, but wrongly organised: throughout history, technological developments have more often than not originated from efforts to solve practical problems without prior scientific basis. Rather than underpinning technological development, basic research has a habit of following promising technological developments. As Matt Ridley interprets in a recent article on the Wall Street Journal: “The steam engine owed almost nothing to the science of thermodynamics, but the science of thermodynamics owed almost everything to the steam engine.” The second is that basic research effectively crowds out private funding. In the absence of public funding, private companies would still invest in basic research to further consolidate their knowledge of how previously invented technologies actually work, which assists further innovation, and would want to do so in-house, rather than free ride on competitors’ basic research outcomes, to generate tacit knowledge which would give them a competitive advantage over rivals. Indeed, free from the crowding-out effect of public funding, private companies might have invested in basic research, which may have yielded more productive outcomes than the basic research funded by government.

…The middle ground: public research funding for the knowledge economy

As  is the case for most complex social phenomena, the nature of technological progress is probably best understood by combining different theoretical perspectives. Suggesting that all technological developments would have occurred in the absence of prior scientific knowledge is just as simplistic as the opposing argument – that basic research is always the first step of a linear innovation process. While the rich history of technology can be mined for examples of each of these extremes, most innovations tell a complex story of coevolution between basic research and technological development, where both private and public research funding play a role. For example, Dosi and Nelson (2010) have suggested that, while the development of the steam engine in the early 18th century preceded scientific developments in thermodynamics and the theory of heat, this technology was indeed built on the foundations of earlier scientific developments (the understanding of the properties of atmospheric pressure investigated by Torricelli, Boyle and Hooke in the 17th and 18th century). This coevolution between science and technology would explain why the steam engine was not invented in China, where all its components (pistons, cylinders, etc,) were known and employed.

Basic science and technological development coevolve, and the problem begins to look like the chicken and egg situation. Nonetheless, there are several compelling reasons for continued public funding of basic research. On the one hand, private companies in the main cannot commit to continued funding of a research programme in the long or even medium term; not only because they tend to respond to short term investor concerns, but also because their very survival is not guaranteed. Even if some companies committed to keep their lines of inquiry open in the absence of early promising research outcomes (something which few companies appear willing to do) there is no guarantee that that programme would not be destroyed by business failure – an increasingly frequent and rapid occurrence even in larger corporations. Public funding provides a buffer to research exploration, which opens up to society a range of research avenues that simply would not occur in its absence, and whose results may be reaped many decades later, benefitting the economy in unexpected ways. Sometimes, basic research is so distant in time and origins from the innovations it contributes to, that such contribution goes unnoticed; current developments in text mining and even speech recognition technology owe a huge debt to many decades of obscure publicly funded research carried out in linguistics departments but this contribution is hardly something that springs to mind when thinking of Siri or Alexa bots. On the other hand, as Archibugi and Filippetti point out, private companies and governments have different incentives in the dissemination of research outcomes: private companies as a rule will give away as little as possible or will only give away knowledge under certain conditions, which again limits the range of research avenues that can be explored starting from existing research.

What the knowledge economy needs is a functioning ecosystem where both public and private research contribute to the creation of new knowledge, its dissemination and commercial exploitation, and create the conditions for further knowledge production. The better interconnected the two spheres, the better the system can promote an efficient division of labour between privately funded and publicly funded research, and the better it can discourage the duplication of research effort. Moreover, the better it can ensure that knowledge can be freely disseminated as much as possible without hurting commercial interests. The economic impact of the “retreat of public research” might not be negative if it has been accompanied by the growth of a more interconnected research system in which public research has become a more efficient complement to private research. However, this is a rather unexplored hypothesis at the macro level – and even if this were the case, it would still not imply that the latter can replace the former. Public research continues to play a vital role in the knowledge economy.

Professor Aldo Geuna and Dr Federica Rossi are the authors of The University and the Economy Pathways to Growth and Economic Development Cheltenham: Edward Elgar (2015). Now available in paperback.

Share

TEF, REF, QR, deregulation: thoughts on Jo Johnson’s HE talk

This post was contributed by Dr Martin Eve, senior lecturer in Literature, Technology and Publishing at Birkbeck’s Department of English and Humanities. It was originally posted on Dr Eve’s personal blog on Wed 9 September. It was then reblogged by Times Higher Education.

Jo_Johnson_at_British_Museum

Universities minister, Jo Johnson

I feel fairly drained today reading the speech given by the minister for Higher Education, Jo Johnson.

The inferences I make about the speech are that:

  1. There’s a massive coming wave of shake-ups to HE finance, both research and teaching, implemented through a Teaching Excellence Framework
  2. Critiques of the REF have backfired as they are used in a deft rhetorical move to cut state funding for research through QR

This is all just my reading of the speech. It doesn’t represent my employer’s views and it is speculative.

On TEF

Even while decrying REF as “bureaucratic and burdensome to academics”, Jo Johnson wants a TEF. There’s so much talk of “deregulation” in the speech, even while the crux of it is to introduce a massive top-down regulatory mechanism. The core of TEF is financial, though, regardless of what Johnson says about “teaching quality”. It is to be incentivized by allowing institutions to raise their tuition fees:

there will be financial incentives behind the TEF, with those offering high quality teaching able to increase fees with inflation

Another way of putting this is from the flip side: there will be real-term cuts to the funding of institutions that do not fare well under this system. Since assessment will presumably be relative from a single budgetary pot, this is a zero-sum game in which some universities are to be slowly de-funded.

There’s also the problem of private providers for the government. These were fairly disastrous before. TEF gives a way to control this expansion, though. It seems that the government wants to decouple fee increases from social mobility while at the same time controlling the expansion of private provision according to teaching metrics. The end point looks likely to be to cut all public support for teaching outside the fee loan system and to squeeze the loan system to drive up competition (while getting rid of social mobility regulators like OFFA). Lots of universities won’t survive that kind of move, but will be replaced by new teaching providers.

On REF and Research Councils

The current modelled spending cuts in BIS are unlikely to leave research funding untouched. The Minister for HE used a deft rhetorical elision to couple academics’ critiques of the REF with removal of state funding for teaching and research:

“To deliver our ambitions, we also plan to reform the higher education and research system architecture. […] Our regulatory regime is still based upon a system where government directly funds institutions rather than reflecting the fact that students are the purchasers. […] It is also clear to me that there are many in the sector demanding a process for assessing the quality of scholarly output that is less bureaucratic and burdensome to academics.”

These critiques, of course, were of REF as a reductive quantifying procedure. They were not meant to justify the removal of QR, just the removal of the process by which it was assigned. Be careful what you wish for. REF was the way that QR was saved. Regardless of whether you like REF or not (I hate the procedure, but want universities to continue to receive state funding for research), QR gives institutions the freedom to allow their researchers and teachers to fulfil both roles. It is naive to think that this government would continue to fund universities in this way without a procedure like REF. So, I don’t like REF, but I accept it as the pragmatic/political compromise negotiated with a centre-right government to continue funding. This is my view of a messy political compromise, not my pure ideal.

The problem is that there are now several different ideologies competing here and the government must weigh its alleigance to each before deciding what route to pursue to achieve its aims. While Johnson says that he is “committed to the maintenance of dual funding support”, i.e. Research Councils and QR, something has to give. So, the ideologies competing are:

  1. An ideology of cost-effectiveness
  2. An ideology of deregulation
  3. An ideology of strategy

REF/QR is cost-effective compared to the Research Councils:

The REF assessed the outputs and impact of HEI research supported by many types of funders. In the context of £27bn total research income from public sources in the UK over a six-year period, the £246M total cost for REF 2014 is less than 1%. In the context of dual support, the total cost amounts to roughly 2.4% of the £10.2 billion in research funds expected to be distributed by the UK’s funding bodies in the six years, 2015-16 to 2020-21. This compares with an estimate of the annual cost to the UK HE community for peer review of grant applications of around £196M or around 6% of the funds distributed by the Research Councils.

So there’s a drive to maintain REF and QR for cost effectiveness.

But REF/QR has been massively slammed by academics as “bureaucratic and burdensome”, so it doesn’t fit the ideology of deregulation (however contradictory). Furthermore, REF/QR can’t be directed, as can Research Council funding; institutions can spend it on whatever research projects they like.

So the government has to work out what it really wants. If there is to be state funding for research, does it value a cost-effective route (REF.); a de-regulated route (maybe Research Councils? Or just cut REF but keep QR? Yeah, right.); or a route that it can control (Research Councils)?

Finally, the Research Council rejection rate is massive. Only a small number of applications go through. If we’re all forced to apply for funding via this route because there is no QR, then this will get even worse. Research funding will only be available at a very small number of places as concentration rises. This protects the golden triangle while exposing everyone else.

In conclusion

Johnson said, in his speech, that he has “no target for the ‘right’ size of the higher education system”. However, we can infer from this that he does not believe the size to be “right” at the moment because of all the changes he wants to make. Indeed, he said that we need changes to ensure “that more [people going to university] does not mean worse [quality of education]”, which presumably is what he thinks happens at the moment. I speculate, from reading this talk:

  • that the government continues its policy of protecting prestigious institutions while sharpening severe financial competition among all others.
  • that TEF is a financial move, not a teaching quality move, even if you think that teaching should be better rewarded in the academy.
  • that real-term de-funding of existing institutions through TEF will be the way in which the expansion of private providers is regulated.
  • that as long as the student loan system stands, the government can have it both ways: it can claim that it does not fund universities and that this is private income, even while having a regulatory say over them because taxpayers “underwrite” the RAB charge.
  • that REF/QR and the Research Councils are up for debate but the government is to use academics’ calls for its abolition as a justification to cut QR.
  • that there are several competing motivations for the government’s actions in the research funding space that it must weigh.
  • that the stability of operation for many institutions is to be upset.
  • that the talk of de-regulation here is only possible by the introduction of massive new regulatory bodies.
Dr Martin Eve

Dr Martin Eve

None of this is new, of course. I haven’t here, also, gone into liberal humanist defences of the university, of which we will surely see many in the light of this talk. I find myself supportive of the goal to get a more diverse student body – I can’t argue with that, just the methods by which it might be achieved. For instance, while there are talks of supporting those who don’t go through a “traditional route” to HE, the government’s recent policies on funding led to a period of severe financial difficulties for institutions like Birkbeck that cater exclusively for those non-traditional students. So, again, the rhetoric is confused.

But now we have it from the Minister and I suspect we will see action on the ground very soon.

Find out more

Share