The Principal's Column
In recent Senate discussions of McGill priorities, there was considerable--and I believe productive--consideration of the teaching function of the University. In that context I would like also to stress the equal importance of our research function, for the distinctive character of a university like McGill is its commitment to bringing the teaching and research functions together. The added value which flows from this dynamic relationship between the two activities within the same institution is vital for both faculty and students.
The federal government's recent budget announcement in support of Canadian university research (see Reporter, February 17) and the milestone opening of the new M.H. Wong Building on the downtown campus have led me to reflect once again on the value of McGill's contribution to advancing knowledge and to say how impressed I continue to be at the tremendous work being accomplished by our talented faculty and graduate students.
Whatever the merits of the annual Maclean's magazine ranking, last fall's survey drew attention to a sometimes overlooked reality: that McGill professors lead the country in grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and place a close second in funding for medical and natural sciences and engineering research, despite the relatively smaller size of our faculties.
Indeed, from the information given me by the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, it appears that regardless of the current discouraging fiscal environment, McGill research funding actually increased last year from $185 million to $190 million--an astounding leap under the circumstances, indicating increased funding from all sources, i.e., grants, contracts and fellowships.
The bittersweet truth is that the latest research success at McGill stems from a large number of relatively smaller grants than we have been accustomed to in the past, rather than from a variety of major ones.
More McGill researchers have thus received a minimum of support for their work (even if it is not at the level they need or deserve), but the proliferation of smaller grants requires a greater expenditure of administrative labour by both the researchers and the University's Research Grants Office, the Office of Technology Transfer, and the Office of International Research.
While it is clearly impossible to list the full range of the most recent McGill research successes, the following is a small sample:
There is, however, a cautionary note that must be sounded. We should never allow ourselves to make the mistake of judging the value of a research program solely by the amount of external funding it can attract. Not only are some disciplines more richly funded than others irrespective of their substantive value, but also it is important to retain the intellectual independence required to assess particular work by standards which may not always be those of other professional groups or funding agencies.
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