Strategic Review and Budget 2009

We would like to communicate with you the decisions in the recent federal budget which affect the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)’s programs. Before doing so, let me say that NSERC is pleased to see continuing investments in the Canadian Science, Technology and Innovation system. The significant investments in our universities and colleges through a $2 billion infrastructure fund, as well as additional funding to the Canada Foundation for Innovation, will help maintain a healthy academic research infrastructure in our country.

In addition, Budget 2009 provided resources to many of our key partners, in particular the National Research Council of Canada through their Industrial Research Assistance Program, Natural Resources Canada in areas such as forestry, energy and the environment, and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada for Arctic Research Infrastructure.

More directly related to our specific role, the budget included an additional $87.5 million over three years for graduate research scholarships, which will enable up to 500 doctoral and 1,000 master’s scholarships to be supported through the three granting agencies, beginning in the current competition year.

NSERC will receive $35 million of this funding over a three-year period, which will allow an additional 200 PhD-level scholarships to be awarded in the current (2009) competition, and an additional 400 scholarships at the master’s level in each of the 2009 and 2010 competitions. These investments, added to the $3.5 million over two years fund for 600 additional Industrial R&D Internships (IRDI), will provide training opportunities to our students and equip them well for their future participation in the renewed economy.

NSERC was one of 21 organizations asked to conduct a Strategic Review in 2008. This exercise requires departments and agencies to review all direct program spending on a four-year cycle to ensure their effectiveness and efficiency, and identify a minimum of 5 percent of their budget for potential reallocation to other federal government priorities.

As part of this Strategic Review process, NSERC conducted a comprehensive review of all our programs according to the following criteria: (1) need and impact of this program on the community it serves; (2) federal role and fit to NSERC’s mandate; (3) alignment with the government’s S&T strategy; and finally, (4) value for money (efficiency and effectiveness), management performance and accountability.

It is important to note that all of our major core programs were found to be high performing and were protected in this exercise. For example, the budget for our Discovery Grants Program is projected to be $326 million in 2009-10, compared to $323 million in 2008-09. Similarly, the budget of the Strategic Partnerships programs is projected to be $114 million, compared to $102 million last year.

The program changes outlined below, as a result of Budget 2009, will be phased-in over three years, and all existing funding commitments will be honoured. As a result of this exercise, NSERC will see a reallocation of $11.2 million in the first year (2009-10), $23.3 million in the second year and $34.7 million in the third and subsequent years.

The following changes to NSERC programs, included in the Strategic Review reallocations, were confirmed in Budget 2009:

• Centres for Research in Youth, Science Teaching and Learning (CRYSTAL)
  The CRYSTAL program will be phased-out and funding for the five centres currently supported will not be renewed at the end of the current pilot. Existing funding commitments will be honoured, and no new competitions will be held.

• Postgraduate Scholarships (PGS)
  Reducing awards at the master’s level to one year will align our program with that of the Canada Graduate Scholarships (CGS) program. No students currently funded will lose their scholarship. Starting with the current 2009 competition, winners of master’s level scholarships will receive one-year awards.

• University Faculty Awards (UFA) The elimination of this program was announced some time ago, and the last new awards were made in 2008. There will be no further competitions.

• Research Capacity Development (RCD)
  The Research Capacity Development pilot program will not be continued. The five-year awards to the seven institutions involved in the pilot will end as planned in March 2009, and there will be no further competitions.

• Major Resources Support (MRS)
  The Major Resources Support program will, in future, focus support for major resources which are unique on a national or international scale.

• Special Research Opportunity (SRO)
  NSERC will continue to support research that is urgent and has a strong potential for breakthroughs through other programs; however, NSERC will not continue the SRO program.

• Intellectual Property Mobilization (IPM)
  Since this program was launched, NSERC has served its catalytic function to kick-start universities’ technology transfer activities, and universities now see technology transfer as a key part of their mandate. As such, the Intellectual Property Mobilization program will be discontinued. Current awards run until November 2009.

Please note that funding under the Indirect Costs Program is being reduced in proportion to reductions in eligible direct costs programs that are administered by each of the funding agencies. As such, the relative ratio of funding for the direct and indirect costs of research will remain essentially the same as prior to the Strategic Review.

We will continue to work to ensure that our ongoing programs serve the research community effectively and efficiently. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Suzanne Fortier
President, NSERC

The Honourable James S. Edwards
Vice-President and Chair of Council, NSERC