1. MANAGING THE UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY THE CHALLENGES OF RESEARCH MANAGEMENT EUA Workshop Barcelona, 18-19 June 2004 Luc WEBER, University of Geneva Member of the EUA Board

2. A VERY WARM WELCOME TO ALL OF YOU

3. 3 18-19 June 2003Weber, The Challenges of Research Management ORGANISER OF THE WORKSHOP Organiser: EUA What is EUA? What is the mission of EUA? How is EUA serving its members? Contributing to and influencing the policy debate in Europe (EHEA, ERA, GATS…) – Preparation in conventions, conferences, working groups, Board and Council meetings – Drafting and publication of declarations (Salamanca, Graz, Glasgow) and statements, as well as speeches by Board and Council members at various meetings Mobilizing and serving the members – Institutional evaluation of Universities; creation of quality circles – Seminars for new elected rectors – Research projects on the mapping of social sciences, doctoral programmes, financing research…

4. 4 18-19 June 2003Weber, The Challenges of Research Management AIMS OF THE WORKSHOP Recent developments: the role of Universities and the crucial importance of research are recognized European Council: Lisbon and Barcelona objectives (competitiveness and the 3% target) EU Commission: from the Communication “Towards a ERA” (2000) to the Communication on “The Role of Universities” (2003) and the Liège conference Bologna Process: introduction of the 3 rd cycle (PhD) European Research Council – reactions from EURAB, ESF, EUA and the research community Forthcoming initiative to reinforce regional development (Universities as a factor of regional development/innovation) Increasing differentiation of HE institutions: the traditional distinction between universities and professional HE institutions is going to be replaced by a distinction between the “intensity” of (basic) research and the dedication to teaching at Bachelor level.

5. 5 18-19 June 2003Weber, The Challenges of Research Management AIMS OF THE WORKSHOP (2) Challenges for research Universities: to respond to new developments and improve their research capacity and competitiveness But HOW? Obviously, more money (better researchers, buildings, equipment, etc..), better teacher/student ratios, ….. would greatly help! However, whether this dream comes true or not, there is a more fundamental question: HOW CAN A UNIVERSITY (BETTER) MANAGE ITS RESEARCH? EUA Initiative as a service to its members Organize two workshops to respond to these questions Programme outline by Bernadette Conraths, Senior Adviser to EUA, and Inge Knudsen (EUA staff), See Programme

6. MANAGEMENT OF RESEARCH AND FINANCING RESEARCH A few preliminary comments

7. 7 18-19 June 2003Weber, The Challenges of Research Management MANAGEMENT OF RESEARCH The fundamental question: can we improve the research performance by better management at institutional level? The response is not straightforward: Examples of excellent research universities where research management is strongly decentralized (Cambridge, Harvard, ETHZ, Geneva) Research competence is massively at the base of the hierarchical pyramid! The well established subsidiarity principle (the researchers are best placed to know what to do and to make it possible (search for the necessary funding)) Researchers want to be recognized individually Researchers do not like to be “patronized” by or even be accountable to their institution

8. 8 18-19 June 2003Weber, The Challenges of Research Management MANAGEMENT OF RESEARCH (2) However, there are good arguments in favour of managing research (implementing a research policy) at the institution level Not all researcher are “geniuses” “Geniuses” are not necessarily good entrepreneurs and negotiators Universities are not all “top class” and should therefore develop specific research targets (for ex. to serve their community…..) More and more research is more efficiently done if the scale of the project is important (obviously CERN, ESO/ESA, some social science projects, but also smaller initiatives) The cost of research and of attracting good researchers is increasing rapidly; it is impossible to do everything: priorities and posteriorities must be fixed to avoid a general fall into mediocrity The research leaders themselves would appreciate to be supported in matters of funding, transfer of knowledge (IPR, patents), recruitment of good researchers, etc… ……….

9. 9 18-19 June 2003Weber, The Challenges of Research Management MANAGEMENT OF RESEARCH (3) How to proceed (two levels): Strategic: Universities should develop long term strategic plans and set out their priorities and posteriorities in research and teaching, including collaboration with other institutions Strategic plans must be established on the basis of broad consultations and be implemented as far as possible by means of financial incentives (should not be imposed!) Flexibility must be secured to support new and unforeseen priorities or interesting projects

10. 10 18-19 June 2003Weber, The Challenges of Research Management MANAGEMENT OF RESEARCH (4) Managerial: Universities should develop a set of services to support research at department level, for example: A recruitment policy strictly based on merit Merit reward schemes (salaries, staff, equipments) Fund raising activity Partnership search A rigorous system of quality audit (assurance), possibly with financial consequences (rewards and penalties) Promotion of inter-disciplinarity Promotion of the University image nationally and internationally Legal advice in matters concerning IPR, patents, research contracts And many other services to identify in this workshop… ………….. Remark: implementing a voluntary research policy is easier in young universities than in well established ones, because there is little memory of a past characterized by almost total freedom and there are fewer people to “move”.

11. 11 18-19 June 2003Weber, The Challenges of Research Management FINANCIAL QUESTIONS: COSTING Costing of research: two problems Overhead: research is more expensive than what appears at first sight because of the importance of indirect costs: Solution: charge significant overheads (not 10-15%, but 50- 60%!?) (when applicable) Question: how to share this additional income between the departments, the university, as well as those disciplines which do not (cannot) engage in contract research? Full costs or marginal costs? Funding of research (research councils, FP) is based on marginal costs It is assumed that the infrastructure and the necessary staff are available! This means that the best way for a university to get into financial trouble is to compete aggressively for these funds! Therefore, to be sustainable, funding of research should be calculated on the basis of total costs ………….

12. 12 18-19 June 2003Weber, The Challenges of Research Management FINANCIAL QUESTIONS: FINANCING Due to the increasing recognition of the importance of research, additional funds will (hopefully) be available, provided one goes (or lobbies) for them: National funding formulas for universities should also cover the research effort, European universities should dramatically increase their fundraising efforts (creation of service?) The creation of a future ERC as well as the new European regional policy will bring fresh money, but increase competition Improve exploitation of IPR (however, the US experience shows that it is not an important source of additional funding) Tuition fees to improve the teacher/student ratios (but not to cross-subsidize research as in the US!) ……….

13. I HOPE WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A FRUITFULL WORKSHOP AND THAT YOU WILL BENEFIT FROM IT