The last two budgets have not been kind to many people, least of all the higher education sector. This does not include the failure of the government to provide supplementation for academic salary increases, which will have a very significant effect on university operating budgets or the further one per cent efficiency dividend which was buried in last year's budget and which finally came to light during analysis of the current budget. Estimates of the final impact of these cuts in funding on our universities range from 10 to 15 per cent depending on the institution. That is something of a nick made with a machete. This will hit the sciences much harder than the humanities.
Science costs money to do and to teach.
Cash strapped university administrators will no doubt find it easier to make ends meet by cutting the science and engineering based courses first. One US study has concluded that investments in academic research return in excess of 25 per cent on an annual basis, exceeding even the stock market in the long haul. Another study found that newly awarded patents draw upon current findings from academic research at a greater rate than ever before. There is no doubt that California is the premier area for research and innovation in the United States. One of the main reasons for this is the presence of so many major universities working in partnership with industry and government to bring about innovation and to help get leading edge technology out into industry.