While graduate students in Canada live well below the poverty line, given low levels of federal funding for scholarships that have not increased in decades, the Canadian government recently announced that it was investing a staggering $1.4 billion in eleven large-scale research initiatives, ranging from $83 million to $199 million each.
The amounts awarded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund are staggering, especially since the largest grants offered by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, one of the three funding bodies involved, are so far amounted to $2.5 million over seven years. It’s quite a leap.
Politicians and universities, of course, love this kind of grand feat. It’s making headlines. Canada’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, François-Philippe Champagne, is quoted in the press release: “Today’s research is tomorrow’s economy. From the beginning, our government has restored the fundamental role of science and scientists in our society. »
I do not doubt the value of funded research. But bigger doesn’t always mean better. There are better ways to invest in the future.
For graduates and scholarship holders
It is far better to invest directly in graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who are, quite literally, the next generation of researchers. It’s a bit like supporting start-ups — this kind of bottom-up approach has long-term benefits, rather than putting $1.5 billion in eleven baskets.
As the leader of a (former) major $2.5 million research project on the deindustrialization of working-class communities, a pressing policy issue in many countries, I strongly believe in the value of collaboration and partnership in the field of research. But these new research megaprojects are so large that I fear they will in effect become granting agencies, but without the checks and balances. Funds allocated for research will only be paid to a select few.
The Canadian Historical Association is concerned about this trend and strongly encourages the federal government to redirect future funding directly to doctoral and postdoctoral students. Throughout the university sector, the problem of student underfunding has reached crisis proportions. Funding levels for PhD scholarships have not budged in decades, forcing students to work part-time instead of focusing on their studies. This means that it takes them longer to complete their studies. In the discipline of history, students take on average more than six years to obtain their doctorate, but federal and provincial funding stops after four or five years for Quebec and federal scholarships respectively. They are left to their fate.
There is also the problem that awaits these highly qualified professionals after graduation. Only a very small proportion of the best students currently receive two-year postdoctoral fellowships that allow them to pursue their research and remain in the labor market until the right job arises.
As academic research is highly specialized, job opportunities in the relevant field are limited. It can take years for the right position to appear. Yet these highly qualified researchers are abandoned upon graduation.
The cost to society of this brain drain is enormous, as is the very real human cost.
Higher education in crisis in Canada
It is no coincidence that the announcement of these megagrants came precisely when graduate students across the country took to the streets to protest the current crisis.
The mega-grants given to the privileged few are a symptom of the higher education crisis in Canada. Universities are increasingly turning to part-time, lower-cost lecturers to provide the bulk of the teaching. The number of permanent full-time professors is down sharply, and as a result, the number of people paid to do research is also down.
The situation is further deteriorating as many universities, eager to become “world-class”, recruit graduates from major prestigious universities in other countries rather than our own graduates. Each time, the university must argue that there are “no qualified Canadians” for the position. More often than not, it’s a lie.
What is the point of having graduate programs in Canada if we have no intention of hiring our own students or funding them adequately? The Canadian Historical Association’s task force on the future of the doctorate in Canadian universities showed that only 2% of our doctorate holders in American history and 4% of those who major in European history find a tenure-track employment.
The message we are sending is clear: if you want a future in research, you better leave Canada.