TEC Calls For More Funds For Research

BABOKI KAYAWE
Staff Writer | Monday January 11, 2010 00:00

In its 2008/09 annual report, TEC sees a need for the government to fund tertiary institutional research, as lack of research continues to hamper the quality of tertiary education. The report further says for many years, government did not fund research in colleges and other tertiary education institutions, which has resulted in a poor research culture in most of the country's tertiary institutions. 

'The result is a poor research culture in most of our tertiary institutions,' the report reads.

Under the Directorate of Policy and Planning, TEC initiated a pilot programme on institutional research in which grants are given to teams of researchers from public and private institutions. According to the TEC report, more than 10 grants averaging P30, 000 each have been awarded during the 2008/09 period. Allocation of grants is based on the quality of research proposals with the best receiving funds.

Research funding is one of the four core components that constitute the TEC Funding Model developed by the Council. It seeks to attain efficiency and cost-effectiveness in tertiary education financing. According to the report, the research fund is very important as research is very critical in tertiary education.

'The Tertiary Education Policy identified research and innovation as the second important goal for tertiary education, hence the need to systematically fund research,' the report reads.

The Funding Model was approved by the Council in March 2009 and has been presented to the Ministry of Education and Skills Development. The report says it will be presented to the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning during 2009/10.