The objective of academic research and development is to obtain new knowledge, which may or may not be applied to practical uses. If limitation of financial resources was not an issue, then tertiary education students willing to undertake research would not fret about how to find the money to support their investigative work. But the reality that most students and the institutions in which they study face is that there is always a shortage of money for seemingly worthwhile projects.
Mark Camilleri, a PhD candidate at the University, says that “the humanities offer as many benefits as any other sector but you can’t quantify the benefits with short-sighted, profit-based methodologies. If a country doesn’t have historians, sociologists or philosophers to make sense of what’s happening, how can politicians enact laws for the good of the country?” The argument contains more than a grain of truth but is oblivious of the real world we live in.
The saying money makes the world go round may sound cynical but it is very true, whether one is running a university or selling electronic goods in another country. Many universities manage to strike partnerships with industry to promote industrial research and development. New knowledge that is applicable to a company’s business needs, that eventually will result in new or improved products, processes, systems or services that can increase the company’s sales and profits, is a good motivator for business leaders to put their hands in their often deep pockets to finance research.
Many, including university students, argue that where private industry fails to realise the importance of basic research in tertiary education, then the taxpayer should finance such research. Bad governance by an administration will add weight to this argument that is often turned into a rhetorical question: if governments find money to waste on useless projects or, even worse, to line the pockets of corrupt public officials why don’t they find money to finance research in all fields of study, including humanities?
The former president of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, notes: “The economic arguments for government support of innovation generally imply that government should focus particularly on fostering basic, or foundation, research. The most applied and commercially relevant research is likely to be done in any case by the private sector, as private sector firms have strong incentives to determine what the market demands and to meet these needs.”
The sobering realities that most political and business leaders face in today’s mean and lean economies is that whatever money is left in a company’s coffers should go to priority research projects that promise to benefit society most in the future. One can hardly argue that new research on Plato’s work is likely to benefit society more than discovering a new cure for certain types of cancer. This argument is not just about economic utility but also about improving the quality of life of people.
The relationship between research and development and economic growth is a complex one. R&D is good investment for business but a risky one – the majority of R&D rejects fail to provide the expected financial results and the successful projects must also pay for the projects that are unsuccessful.
Humanities students’ best hope for obtaining funding for their research is to convince business leaders that providing funds for such projects is also part of their corporate social responsibility to the community they live in.