University Research Income Sees Minimal Growth of 0.6 percent, Report

The new annual ranking of Canadian research universities has been released.

Combined research income reported by the country’s top 50 leading universities expanded by just 0.6% in Fiscal 2015 to $6.71 billion from $6.67 billion in Fiscal 2014, according to Research Infosource Inc., which today released its annual ranking of Canada’s Top 50 Research Universities.  

This continues the lacklustre research income growth of the past 5 years.  Overall, 21 universities expanded their research income versus 29 where research income declined.  This is only the second time in the past 5 years that the number of universities with research income declines exceeded those with positive growth.

Once again, University of Toronto took 1st place on the Top 50 Research Universities list reporting research income of $998.5 million in Fiscal 2015, down -4.1% from $1.04 billion in Fiscal 2014.  University of British Columbia reclaimed the #2 spot despite posting a -1.0% decline in research income with $541.6 million in Fiscal 2015, down from $547.0 million in Fiscal 2014.  Université de Montréal moved back into third spot with $530.9 million, down -3.3% from $548.8 million the year prior.  McGill University retained their #4 rank with $473.1 million in research income, a drop of -1.0% from $477.8 million last year. University of Alberta maintained the #5 position with $470.7 million, increasing their research income by 1.7% in Fiscal 2015 from $462.9 million.  University of Calgary moved up one spot on the Top 50 list to #6 with a substantial increase of 10.5%, bringing their research income in Fiscal 2015 to $358.3 million from $324.2 million in Fiscal 2014.  A number of universities significantly out-performed the national average growth in Fiscal 2015: this group was lead by Queen’s University with a 26.2% increase in research income, followed by Memorial University of Newfoundland (18.9%) and Laurentian University (15.6%).

“University research income is highly leveraged to Government support”, explained Ron Freedman, CEO of Research Infosource Inc.  “We saw overall Government support decline by -2.9%, including a drop of -1.9% in Federal government funding, -3.8% in Provincial funding and -19.5% in Foreign government support.  In contrast, Non-government support increased by a healthy 7.9%, including a hefty 10.4% rise in support from Corporations, which is a very positive development, and a gain of 9.3% from the Not-for-profit sector.”

Research Infosource has designated 3 institutions as Research Universities of the Year 2016 in their respective categories:  University of Toronto (Medical/Doctoral), University of Waterloo (Comprehensive) and Lakehead University (Undergraduate).  These institutions stood out on a balanced scorecard of research input and output/impact measures.

In association with its 15th Anniversary, Research Infosource shines the spotlight on the performance of the Top 50 universities over a 15-year period in terms of attracting research income and producing peer-reviewed academic publications.  Top place winners were: Total 15 Years Research Income FY2001-FY2015: University of Toronto, University of Guelph, Ryerson University.  Research Income Growth FY2001-FY2015: Université de Sherbrooke, Simon Fraser University, École de technologie supérieure.  Total 15 Years Research Publications 2000-2014: University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, Ryerson University.  Research Publications Growth 2000-2014: University of Ottawa, Concordia University, Ryerson University.

Agencies/Canadajournal