College Research Income Growth Stalls, Rises by Just 0.5%

Cégep de Saint-Hyacinthe Tops National Ranking

TORONTO, Nov. 3, 2016 /CNW/ - Canada's leading research colleges posted a combined research income of $168.7 million in Fiscal 2015, compared with $167.8 million the prior year – an increase of only 0.5% according to Research Infosource Inc., which today released its annual ranking of Canada's Top 50 Research Colleges. Fiscal 2015 research income growth was lower than the 4.7% growth recorded in Fiscal 2014 and 30.8% in Fiscal 2013. Cégep de Saint-Hyacinthe led the Top 50 with $10.3 million of research income, followed by Cégep de la Gaspésie et des Îles ($7.9 million) and Lambton College ($7.0 million).

"We've seen two consecutive years of slowing college research income," said Ron Freedman, CEO of Research Infosource. "This raises a number of questions about the structure of college research funding – especially from government sources – but also from industry.  Industry funding of college research declined by 8.3%, to $37.2 million in total.  Although many individual colleges grew their research revenue, the overall result was lukewarm.  Activity levels were up, but funding was down."

On the plus side, the number of college faculty researchers expanded by 3.1%.  The number of active research partnerships expanded by 12.5%, the number of completed research projects jumped by 13.0% and the number of students paid to participate in research expanded by 33.2%.

Research income growth was strongest at Fanshawe College (up 200.8%), followed by St. Lawrence College (99.3%) and Dawson College (81.5%).  Among large colleges, Sheridan College led the way in active partnerships (298), while Cégep de Trois-Rivières headed the medium category (134) and Cégep de Thetford the small college category (99).  Quebec institutions accounted for 40.4% of total research income compared with their counterparts in Ontario (30.1%), Alberta (9.6%) and British Columbia (6.4%).

"College research is an important piece of the national research landscape," said Mr. Freedman.  "To date it appears that colleges are not achieving their full potential, likely due to a combination of supply-side (funding) and demand-side (industry engagement) issues. We think that colleges and their funders need to see what's required to kick-start the enterprise."

For complete information: http://www.researchinfosource.com/top50_col.php

About Research Infosource Inc.

Research Infosource Inc. is Canada's source of R&D intelligence.  Drawing from proprietary databases, Research Infosource Inc. publishes Canada's Innovation Leaders, which includes Canada's Top 100 Corporate R&D Spenders List, Canada's Top 50 Research Universities List, Canada's Top 40 Research Hospitals List and Canada's Top 50 Research Colleges List.  As well, Research Infosource publishes specialized reports and The Innovation Atlas of Canada™ – a web-based research and innovation mapping and data information product.

SOURCE Research Infosource Inc.

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or for an interview, please contact: Ron Freedman, CEO, Research Infosource Inc., Telephone: [phone] ext. 22; Cell: 416-879-9000, Email: [email protected]