THE REPUTATION and capacity of Irish universities to earn research income will plummet internationally if the Government fails to continue supporting research in the December Budget, University College Cork president Dr Michael Murphy has warned.
Dr Murphy said it was critical that the Government continues to back universities in winning research income through funding the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) and other agencies if Ireland is to maintain its reputation.
“The standing of Irish graduates and Irish universities will plummet if the international media report that the Irish commitment to supporting research was short term, and that there wasn’t a real fundamental buy-in or understanding of its importance by government,” he said.
Dr Murphy was speaking following the launch of UCC’s Strategic Plan for 2009-2012, which he said he hoped would enable UCC to become “a world class regional university” by building on its successful growth and burgeoning reputation.
In the past five years, the number of patents filed annually by researchers at UCC had grown by 40 per cent, while invention disclosures had more than doubled and licences assigned to industry or business had more than trebled, he said.
Over the same period, UCC enjoyed a 38 per cent increase in peer-reviewed research income, rising from €54.8 million in 2003/2004 to €78.5 million in 2008/2009, won in the face of stiff international competition from other universities and institutes.
Registered students at UCC now number almost 19,000, with some 13,500 of these studying for undergraduate degrees, a further 3,500 involved in postgraduate programmes and just under 1,000 registered for PhDs, said Dr Murphy.
Since 2004 total student numbers have grown by 11 per cent, the number of PhD students has grown by 50 per cent, and numbers of international students have increased by 31 per cent in the same period.