New HE funding competition - sign of the times!

[openbuck]

More money for computing and engineering courses aimed at preparing students for the defence industry ...

"The funding is provided by the MoD and will be distributed to successful universities and colleges by the OfS after considering bids. It will lead to an increase of approximately 2,400 student places focused on computing and engineering courses over the next three academic years, and support institutions to develop new, cutting-edge teaching facilities."

https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/publications/defence-related-skills-funding-competition/

Very nice as far as it goes for students whose interests and talents lie in this direction. But this is one more example of HMG skewing the HE mission according to perceived short term national needs. The ramifications will last rather longer.

I also fear there will be a price, in that less prioritised areas will suffer even more.

I am in STEM so I wish I liked it better.

OfS, and HEFCE before it, has always had funding competitions for subjects of strategic importance (Government defined). This is not new.

You’re right, of course. But the climate has changed.

Why do you think national defence is a short term need, rather than a long term need?

Of course the need for a robust national defence is a given, and the UK needs some improvement.

However the various initiatives in this area are being driven by the current situation. The US president is threatening two NATO allies so what will NATO be worth? Since Brexit what other rock solid allies do we have? Some Commonwealth countries, I guess, but only Canada and Australia have significant practical help to offer. (In practice I would agree we could count on Europe but there is no obligation except NATO AFAIK).

All of Europe is potentially threatened by Putin and the terrorist threat is high. The war in Iran was predicted as this programme (the subject of the thread) was being drafted.

I meant that this programme is a response to these short term issues. I think funding will be cut (further) from other disciplines, and is unlikely to be restored when the world rebalances.