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MERSENNE  March 2011

MERSENNE March 2011

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Subject:

AHRC and the Big Society

From:

M D Eddy <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

M D Eddy <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 16:03:03 +0100

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (114 lines)

To see this story with its related links on the guardian.co.uk site, go to 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/mar/27/academic-study-big-society

Academic fury over order to study the big society

Researchers 'over a barrel' after coalition threat to cut £100m grant from 
Arts and Humanities Research Council

Daniel Boffey
Sunday March 27 2011
The Observer




Academics will study the "big society" as a priority, following a deal with 
the government to secure funding from cuts.

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) will spend a "significant" 
amount of its funding on the prime minister's vision for the country, after 
a government "clarification" of the Haldane principle : a convention that 
for 90 years has protected the right of academics to decide where research 
funds should be spent.

Under the revised principle, research bodies must work to the government's 
national objectives, although the Department for Business, Innovation and 
Skills said that ministers will not meddle in individual projects.

It is claimed the AHRC was told that research into the "big society" was 
non-negotiable if it wished to maintain its funding at £100m a year.

The director of research at Cambridge University's history faculty, 
Professor Peter Mandler, told the Observer that the AHRC was forced to 
accept the change by officials working for the minister for higher 
education, David Willetts, regarded as one of the intellectual driving 
forces behind the "big society".

Mandler added: "The government says they have rewritten the Haldane 
principle but they have junked it, basically. They say it is now their 
right to set the priorities for how this funding [is] distributed. They 
have got the AHRC over a barrel and basically told these guys that they 
cannot have their money unless they incorporate [these] research 
priorities.

"Willetts was negotiating nominally, but the word is that it has come down 
from the secretary of state for business, innovation and skills, Vince 
Cable. Almost everyone who hears the story is upset about it. What about 
curiosity research, blue sky thinking? What is worrying is what won't be 
researched because of this."

There is growing anger at what the Royal Historical Society (RHS) described 
as a "gross and ignoble" move to assert government control over research in 
favour of what one academic labelled a party political slogan.

Professor Colin Jones, president of the RHS, said the move was potentially 
dangerous for the future of academic study in the country. "It seems to me 
to be absolutely gross," said Jones.

"In a way, the AHRC should be congratulated for securing a good settlement 
in a difficult spending round, but there is something slightly ignoble 
about making the 'big society' a research priority."

He added: "It is government money. They have the right to spend it on what 
they want, but there is a degree of anxiety about the strings being put on. 
They are being strengthened, which could be dangerous for independent 
research."

A principal at an Oxford college, who did not want to be named, said: "With 
breathtaking speed, a slogan for one political party has become translated 
into a central intellectual agenda for the academy."

Labour MP and historian Tristram Hunt said he intended to raise the issue 
in parliament, describing the research priorities as "grotesque". He added: 
"It is disgraceful that taxpayers' money is being spent on this bogus 
idea."

It is understood that Oxford University intends to discuss the imposition 
of "big society" research at the next meeting of its sovereign body, the 
Oxford congregation, in May.

Gareth Thomas, the shadow minister for higher education, condemned the 
development and called for transparency from the Department for Business, 
Innovation and Skills.

He said: "Vince Cable and David Willetts need to explain why he has allowed 
an ill-thought-out, half-formed Tory election idea to divert precious 
funding away from genuine research.

"When the government is axing virtually all the funding for the teaching of 
humanities, social sciences and the arts, wasting critical research monies 
on the 'big society' is simply unacceptable."

Last month, the prime minister rejected criticisms of the "big society" and 
said the idea was his driving force. He said: "We do need a social recovery 
to mend the broken society and to me, that's what the big society is all 
about."

One of the tasks of research, according to the AHRC's delivery plan, will 
be to define "difficult to pin down" values in "recent speeches on the big 
society", such as "fairness, engagement, responsibility, mutuality, 
individualism [and] selfishness".

A Department for Business, Innovation and Skills spoksman insisted that the 
AHRC itself had proposed the "big society" as a strategic priority.

"Prioritisation of an individual research council's spending within its 
allocation is not a decision for ministers," she added.

"The government supports [the Haldane] principle as vital for the 
protection of academic indpendence and excellence."

Dr Matthew D Eddy
Durham University, Department of Philosophy, 50/51 Old Elvet, Durham, DH1 3HN, United Kingdom.  http://www.dur.ac.uk/m.d.eddy/  [log in to unmask]

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