Issue 1, 2014
The Nordic funding of Nordita and several other Nordic research institutes has come under renewed pressure at the Nordic Council of Ministers (NMR). At a meeting earlier this year the Committee of Senior Officials for Education and Research (EK-U) opted for a 20% cut in the NMR financing of each of the institutes in 2014 and is considering further cuts in 2015-16. A total phasing out of all NMR funding for the institutes by the end of 2016 has even been discussed. The proposed 20% cut in the funding of the Nordic research institutes goes far beyond the proposed 3.8% reduction in the overall budget of the Education and Research sector at NMR in 2014 and appears to be motivated by administrative expedience without an objective evaluation of the scientific quality of the work carried out at the institutes in question. At the same time, unchanged funding is proposed for NordPlus and NordForsk in 2014.
Sharply reducing or eliminating the NMR financing of Nordita puts at risk the Nordic character that has been key to the long-standing success of Nordita and may cause the institute to fail altogether. Members of the Nordita Board and the Director have met with ministry officials in all the Nordic countries and with NMR staff members to protest these deep funding cuts. Informing decision makers about Nordita and its relevance to the Nordic countries may help turn the ongoing debate about the future of Nordic research cooperation in a more positive direction.
The NMR budget proposal for 2014 is being presented in the home countries over the summer and may get amended by the Ministers for Cooperation before it is submitted to the Nordic Council for debate and final decision at the Nordic Council session in late October. Unless changes are made to the proposal from EK-U during this process, Nordita will have to contend with a reduced budget next year. While, Nordita cannot expect to be exempt from budget pressures faced by NMR, Nordita representatives have emphasized to ministry officials that funding priorities for research should be based on a thorough assessment of scientific quality and long-term impact.
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