University finance

The following being loosely based on a story told by Reich in reference 1, with this last having proved fertile in posts, as can be seen from reference 2.

We suppose that I am running a university research laboratory, deep into the shiny new analysis technique called Brand X, just the thing for deep analysis of discarded shopping trolleys, a presently thriving field in academe. See, for example, reference 3. Part of the cost of the laboratory is met by the university, from its endowment funds, part is met by grant from some organ of central government.

It turns out that I am rather good at shopping trolleys, and bring down the cost of a Brand X analysis by a factor of 100. Other people find it a lot easier to send their trolleys to me for analysis than bother with doing it themselves and in a fairly short period of time, just a few years, I have built up a substantial business, employing fifty people and have built a shiny new facility on a nearby industrial estate (on a peppercorn rent to my university, which just happens to own the land).

Two good things about this from my point of view. First, I get to muscle in on other peoples’ research as I have got their trolleys and their data. Second, I can free load on my new facility to indulge my special interest in the Aldi and Lidl trolleys to be found south of the east-west geological fault running through the Isle of Wight. No more need to have to grovel, to beg money off funding committees.

But the university is not so sure. I am supposed to be running a small department, and am actually running what amounts to my own  business. I am borrowing university staff so to do. And the expertise and money needed to start this business up was drawn, almost in entirety, from university resources.

And some of my customers are not so sure either. They think that I am abusing my near monopoly position in the business and, worse, stealing a lot what is really their work.

Perhaps the answer is to spin the testing factory off as a free standing business, raising any money it might need on the open market, but one which is wholly owned by the university, to which any reasonable profits accrue. A sort of hybrid hanging between the university and private sectors. Add an advisory council representing all the customers, all the stakeholders to use a bit of recently fashionable management-speak. And then decide what to do about the director: are you going to allow him to job share or is he going to have to choose?

Nothing wrong with all this, perhaps it is the way forward. But it is a far cry from studying ancient Persian texts in my rooms overlooking the Great Quad and attending to the odd student who might drift in for something or other.

PS: with thanks to Power Technology for their picture of a Brand X analysis rig. In association with Verdict Media. The trolley goes in through a hatch at the top.

References

Reference 1: Who We Are and How We Got Here: Ancient DNA and the new science of the human past - David Reich – 2018.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/search?q=reich.

Reference 3: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2019/03/trolleys-239-240-and-241.html.