Minister of Education and Research Jevgeni Ossinovski presented the proposals recently submitted by the working group on the financing of research for the reorganisation of the system; major proposals concern the simplification of the system for financing research and the improvement of stability.
Minister of Education and Research Jevgeni Ossinovski said that those in academic circles have almost consensually agreed that the financing of research is out of balance and overly project based. “In the present model of financing, the share of competition-based funding is approximately 80%. Overly fierce competition complicates the setting of longer-term development objectives in research institutions and jeopardises the diversity of research domains. This compromises the development of the domains that are essential for Estonia and may negatively affect the quality of higher education," said Minister Ossinovski. That is why the state has to provide a greater sense of security to researchers and research institutions and to increase stable financing, Minister Ossinovski underlined.
The proposals of the working group suggest that the current ‘triple breakdown’ into institutional and personal research grants and basic financing should be replaced by a ‘dual breakdown’, which consists of stable operating subsidies to research institutions and competition-based research grants. Their proportion should shift from the existing ratio of 20:80 to 50:50.
The transition to the new financing system presumes that the financing of research from the state budget will increase. In order to implement the change, the annual scope of financing research from the state budget has to be increased by approximately 30 million euros. Without additional funds, the objective of increasing the state financing of research to one percent of the GDP from 2015 onwards, as set in the Estonian Research and Development and Innovation Strategy, will not be achievable either.
The working group and background information
During 2014, several research institutions and research-related organisations submitted their proposals for the reorganisation of the financing of research. The working group set up by the Minister of Education and Research last autumn took into account the proposals already made, analyses conducted and studies performed and formulated their proposals for the reorganisation of the financing of research by the end of December.
The members of the working group were: Anu Reinart (Tartu Observatory), Andres Koppel (the Estonian Research Council), Erkki Truve (the Universities Estonia association), Indrek Reimand (chairman of the working group, the Ministry of Education and Research), Priit Rohumaa (Viru Keemia Grupp) and Urmas Varblane (the Estonian Academy of Sciences, TIPS Programme).
