Countries in the Nordic region are experiencing federal budget cuts that are affecting research in post-secondary institutions. Last year, Finland announced that, during the new prime minister’s four-year term, basic funding for the country’s 15 universities would decline by €500 million ($549.9 million), and research funding would drop by €100 million. Because of this, funding for research has dropped 16% over the last five years, even though there has been a 43% increase in funding applications. Moreover, due to the cuts, there has been a decrease of 5,200 posts in polytechnic and post-secondary institutions since 2012. In Denmark, DKK 180 million ($26.6 million) has been cut this year, with a total of DKK 700 million in cuts expected to be made by 2019. This is part of a federal plan to slash DKK 8.7 billion, 2% of total funding, from academic expenditure by 2019, making it the largest budget decline in the country’s history. For 2016, DKK 1.4 billion was removed from the federal R&D budget, with an additional DKK 0.7 billion to be cut in 2017. Iceland is in a similar state, with funding for higher education dropping 10% between 2008 and 2012. While university funding in Sweden has not yet been cut, it has plateaued since 2012.

Source: Times Higher Education