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Transferring money between higher education funding and research councils could be seen as merely "moving deckchairs on the national research ship", not addressing - and possibly exacerbating - the university research funding gap, according to the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST).

In a new report, POST identifies a Pounds 670 million annual funding gap between research costs to higher education institutes and receipts from customers.

To address this shortfall, which results in a lack of infrastructure investment, POST says there is a need for long-term partnerships between universities, government departments, charities and industry about what research costs should cover and who should pay them.