Key points
- Some universities in the US are freezing hiring
- Universities will admit fewer graduate students
- Universities warn that recent federal changes pose an existential threat to higher education
ISLAMABAD: Some universities in the United States are freezing hiring, admitting fewer graduate students, and also warning that recent federal changes and proposals pose an existential threat to higher education in the country, the Washington Post reported.
Forbes also reported that an increasing number of research universities have recently announced they would be trimming their budgets, freezing new hiring, or pulling back on PhD admissions due to concerns over federal funding constraints.
They join other major institutions — such as Northwestern University, MIT, Washington State University, North Carolina State University, and Columbia University’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons — that have previously indicated they would pause some spending or hiring due to the federal cutbacks, according to Forbes.
Temporary block on Trump’s orders
Washington Post reported that a US judge last month put a temporary block on Trump administration orders for deep cuts to federal funding rates that the National Institutes of Health provides to support overhead costs for research at academic institutions.
But the uncertainty around that and other potential federal actions has already prompted some university officials to scramble contingency plans and incise budgets where they can, in ways that could have a lasting impact on scientific research in this country, the newspaper reported.
“We talk a lot about being in this intense competition with China for technology and science,” said L. Rafael Reif, president emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “Is this a way in which we can compete? This is a very difficult time to create such a mess,” according to the Washington Post.
The newspaper reported that last month, NIH announced it would save $4 billion per year by immediately and drastically cutting the rates for the facilities and administrative costs of biomedical research, the indirect costs that universities spend on things such as utilities in labs, safety, and compliance with government regulations. “The United States should have the best medical research in the world,” NIH said in its announcement. “It is accordingly vital to ensure that as many funds as possible go towards direct scientific research costs rather than administrative overhead.”
Critics see taxpayer dollars wasted on administrative bloat. And the government argued in a response to legal challenges that the new policy will not change NIH’s total grant spending, but will reallocate the spending “away from indirect costs and toward the direct funding of research.”
Lifesaving discoveries
University leaders say that the indirect rates are carefully negotiated and audited reimbursement essential to research — and that the decision would devastate efforts that lead to lifesaving discoveries and innovations that power the economy.
Coalitions of university leaders, hospitals, Democratic attorneys general, and others quickly filed lawsuits to stop the cuts. But that’s just one of the places where federal funding could be slashed. And some lawmakers have already warned they will try to increase taxes on university endowments.
Stanford University’s president and provost announced a freeze in staff hiring — a decision that does not apply to faculty and student workers — citing uncertainties over federal policy proposals, according to the Washington Post.
