Last month, Forfás—Ireland’s board for enterprise, trade, science, technology and innovation—published the first findings of its survey of R&D in the higher education sector (HERD) for the academic year 2006 (September 2005–August 2006). HERD spending reached €600.6 million ($730.2 million) in 2006, and has risen 10.5% on average since 2004. HERD spending reached 0.40% of GNP in 2006, a percentage that is slightly higher than the EU27 average and equal to the OECD average. The main force behind the increase in HERD spending has been public funding, the largest portion of which was €265.7 million in direct funding from Irish exchequer programs in 2006. This funding amount represents an annual average increase of 14.4% since 2004. The next-largest funding source was “indirect funding,” in the form of €248.4 million distributed from a Higher Education Authority grant. University College Cork received €86.6 million in the academic year 2006—the highest amount for the year—and Trinity College Dublin received €60.5 million.

Source: Forfás