Professors protest against economic goals

BRITAIN'S brightest brains may leave the country if proposals are approved which give more funding to research that has economic benefits.

More than a third of professors say they would consider pursuing their academic careers overseas if the plans are introduced, according to a survey by the University and College Union (UCU).

Under proposals announced by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (Hefce) in September, up to 25 per cent of research would be given extra recognition if it provides "demonstrable benefits" to the economy as well as society, public policy, culture and quality of life.

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But the UCU is opposed to the plans, saying it would "wreck the very basis of innovation in knowledge".

The union has said that if university researchers had been operating under the new proposals already, many crucial discoveries would never have been made.

Its poll, which questioned almost 600 professors, found that more than two-thirds do not support the proposals, and a fifth say they know of someone who is considering pursuing their academic career abroad as a result of the new agenda.

More than six in 10 said the proposals will alter the focus and practice of research in their university department.

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UCU general secretary Sally Hunt said: "We should be working hard to attract the finest minds to Britain, not implementing new rules that will drive them away. History has taught us that some of the biggest breakthroughs have come from speculative research and it is wrong to try and measure projects purely on their economic potential.

"We believe the new system would strangle talent and destroy initiative."

Last month, the UCU handed a petition against the plans, containing nearly 18,000 signatures, to Hefce. Among the signatories were six Nobel Prize winners and more than 3,000 professors.

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