The 2020 edition of the Chartered ABS report on research funding for UK business schools

This is the latest iteration of our annual report which breaks down the data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) on the funding for Business and Management research in the UK.

This report finds that total research income for Business and Management subjects increased by 1% to £73.5m from last year, which is 15% higher than five years ago and 11% higher than ten years ago. When adjusting for inflation, however, income is only 2% higher than in 2013/14, and is still 18% lower than in 2008/09. In real-terms, the rate of increase in funding for Business & Management research has lagged several STEM and Social Science subjects over the last five years.

In breaking research income down by source, the report finds that the UK business school sector is increasingly reliant on non-UK sources for research income, with the EU’s share of research funding for Business & Management now at an all-time high of 27%, up from a 13% share in 2008/09. Income from non-EU sources has also steadily risen over the last 10 years and accounted for 7% of the total in 2018/19. Over the last 10 years the share of research income received from UK sources, meanwhile, has fallen from 86% to 66%. Research funding for Business & Management from the UK government has declined in real-terms, despite a real-terms increase in funding from this source to all academic fields overall.

The report also analyses how funding compares across regions, UK nations, mission group, and schools.

You can read and download the report here.