Recommendation 112

Dr Stuart Fancey, Director of Research and Innovation, Scottish Funding Council, told us that both the sources of research funding, and the scale of research activity, varied “enormously” across Scottish universities.250 He told us that the Scottish Funding Council provides about a quarter of funding for the sector, with UKRI providing about another quarter, with the remainder coming from a variety of sources including charities and businesses.251 Research-intensive universities usually need to increase income from other sources, such as attracting international students, to cover their research costs. As stated earlier in the report, according to Audit Scotland, in 2016–17, universities recovered, on 244 Further information on the Ministerial taskforce on research sustainability 245 Secretary of State at the Scotland Office (USC0011) 246 Q18 247 Q96 248 Q100 249 Q100 250 Q64 251 Q64 44 Universities and Scotland average, 138% of the cost of non-publicly funded teaching and 144% of the cost of non- teaching activities (such as commercial activities, residences and conferences), in order to subsidise academic research.252