Third-level institutions learn today of research funding allocations

Universities and institutes of technology will know this morning if they have won a share in a new £4 million research fund. A total of 23 third-level institutions submitted funding proposals for this money, but many will be disappointed as bids worth a combined £15 million were sent, almost four times the amount of cash available.

The £4 million was allocated to the Department of Education and Science, and the funding scheme is being administered by the Higher Education Authority (HEA).

It was announced last May by the Minister of State for Commerce, Science and Technology, Mr Noel Treacy, and represented a departure from former funding procedures which were based on assessments of individual projects.

Third-level institutions were asked to submit proposals on the basis of their "strategic development plans" according to the HEA. An international assessment panel of academics from France, Spain, Hungary and Britain, with three Irish representatives, met just over a week ago to consider the proposals and select those to receive funding, according to an HEA source.

The Minister had been informed about the panel's decision and the institutions were being notified this week, the source said yesterday.

"We are tying up a few knots on it and ringing around the colleges confirming the successful and unsuccessful ones."

This was to have been completed by today.

Details of how the funding would be allocated would not be available until all participants had been informed, the source added.

It is understood, however, that the HEA expects some level of discontent on the part of the unsuccessful applicants which are thought to include some of the leading educational institutions. It is thought that no more than six or seven of the 23 applicants will receive funding, leaving behind a group who could then express opposition to the funding programme.

Mr Treacy announced some weeks ago that a committee had been established to agree funding procedures for next year. No decision has been made yet on whether the £4 million fund will be disbursed in the same way in 1999.

"We are hopeful this exercise will be repeated next year," the source indicated.