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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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