BRITISH industrialists joined forces with the country鈥檚 academics this week to condemn a 拢107 million cut in funding for university laboratories that was buried in last week鈥檚 Budget. Companies and top-quality researchers will take their money and their talent elsewhere, they warn, if the equipment in British laboratories is obsolete and worn out.
Next year universities will have 拢243 million to spend on modernising and equipping laboratories, a cut of almost one-third from 拢350 million allocated for this year. 鈥淔rankly this is extremely disappointing,鈥� says Roger Newton, a chemist at Glaxo-Wellcome and chairman of an informal group of eminent chemists in industry and academia. Last month, the group wrote to Ian Taylor, the science minister, warning him that 鈥渢he standards of our university laboratories have fallen considerably behind those of Britain鈥檚 major competitors鈥�. The letter pointed out that in some cases outdated equipment, such as 鈥渁ncient fume cupboard technology鈥�, made laboratories unsafe.
Academics warn that top-quality researchers will desert poorly equipped laboratories. 鈥淕ood equipment and well-found laboratories are often the most important factor attracting and retaining world-class staff,鈥� says a spokesman for the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals.
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He accused the government of 鈥渁 very crafty piece of news management鈥�, claiming that the university cuts were hidden behind upbeat statements about the main Science Budget, which is distributed through the research councils. After the Budget announcement, Taylor claimed great credit for winning 拢1312 million next year, up from 拢1300 million this year. But there are decreases of 拢14 million in each of the following two years. What鈥檚 more, science is critically dependent on money distributed to the universities for equipment and overheads by the Department for Education and Employment through its higher education funding councils: this is the money that was cut drastically.
鈥淥n the one hand, the Science Budget has been protected, but on another it鈥檚 been decimated,鈥� says John Mulvey of the lobby group Save British Science.
A study from the University of Manchester, due to be published in the new year, will reveal the state of university laboratories. The study is a follow-up to one carried out in 1989, which found that four-fifths of departments lacked the equipment they needed for current research programmes. More than one-third of the equipment was a decade old in 1989.