4 ms·

Not sure why you're so upset about it. Obviously our experiences differ and I'm not denying your experience. I generalised what is happening over here in Croati

by jq-r 5y ago

Not sure why you're so upset about it. Obviously our experiences differ and I'm not denying your experience. I generalised what is happening over here in Croatia on at least two universities that I have experience with (directly or indirectly). This stuff is so common that it is actually unusual to find the reverse of it. I'll give you an example as you wanted citation (tell me where to get a citation of wasting everyone's money on pet projects?). The project was about researching movement and feeding of some beach due to movement of the sea. One professor and his assistant bought from the grant money: scuba diving equipment worth tens of thousands of euros, a small boat, video cameras, and couple of high end laptops and computers. The actual work was almost zero, because it was already done on some other beach years previously. And the equipment? In private storage, and used privately after. It is always the same vague answer when you ask someone "where did you get X?": "A project bought it (wink wink)". A college over here bought a supercomputer some time ago for xxxMM, mostly EU funds. Can you guess what does that computer spend most of its time on? Idling. Sometimes it happens though that they sell processing time to some private company. Obviously money well spent. But the company who sold it made very solid money. Couple of years ago they opened a new (public) college here which has two times three or four story full glass staircases. Do you know how much that costs? Millions of EU money. Couldn't they make do with concrete/steel staircases? So the moral of the story is, there is a whole industry here specialised in extracting EU funds to go to private or semi private pockets. On one hand they are pretty open about it, and about some other stuff they don't like to talk about (at least in public). Newspapers have bigger fishes to fry. Not that can anyone can do anything anymore because nobody give a flying one. So the situation is not as rosy as you put it, and typically, student wellbeing and education are more bullet points on the far end of the priority list. Academia is very keen to get and keep their independence. Independence from responsibility to the public, but not the independence on public's money.

gspr 5y ago
> Not sure why you're so upset about it. Because spreading untruths is bad. > Obviously our experiences differ and I'm not denying your experience. I generalised what is happening over here in Croatia on at least two universities that I have experience with (directly or indirectly). However, you present it as a universal truth. > I'll give you an example as you wanted citation (tell me where to get a citation of wasting everyone's money on pet projects?). The project was about researching movement and feeding of some beach due to movement of the sea. One professor and his assistant bought from the grant money: scuba diving equipment worth tens of thousands of euros, a small boat, video cameras, and couple of high end laptops and computers. The actual work was almost zero, because it was already done on some other beach years previously. And the equipment? In private storage, and used privately after. It is always the same vague answer when you ask someone "where did you get X?": "A project bought it (wink wink)". That's definitely bad. Do something about it. Sound the alarm. Newspapers love stories of public waste. Or don't, if you don't wanna – but don't portray this as being an inherent aspect of EU funding. > A college over here bought a supercomputer some time ago for xxxMM, mostly EU funds. Can you guess what does that computer spend most of its time on? Idling. Sometimes it happens though that they sell processing time to some private company. Obviously money well spent. But the company who sold it made very solid money. Same as above. > Couple of years ago they opened a new (public) college here which has two times three or four story full glass staircases. Do you know how much that costs? Millions of EU money. Couldn't they make do with concrete/steel staircases? So the moral of the story is, there is a whole industry here specialised in extracting EU funds to go to private or semi private pockets. On one hand they are pretty open about it, and about some other stuff they don't like to talk about (at least in public). Newspapers have bigger fishes to fry. Not that can anyone can do anything anymore because nobody give a flying one. Now you seem to have digressed to a general rant about misuse of completely different EU budgets. Is your gripe just a general one about how your country is misusing EU funds? It doesn't seem very related to research funding.
- jq-r 5y ago
  Obviously I've touched a nerve there. I painted a small picture how the EU research grants are being misused and this being a just a part of bigger problem with EU money over here. Did I claim anything about your country? Of course not. You might be upset that money is not well spent everywhere, and I hear you. Just don't pretend that those problems don't exist. Go flame somebody else please. Thanks.

by jq-r 5y ago

gspr 5y ago

> Not sure why you're so upset about it. Because spreading untruths is bad. > Obviously our experiences differ and I'm not denying your experience. I generalised what is happening over here in Croatia on at least two universities that I have experience with (directly or indirectly). However, you present it as a universal truth. > I'll give you an example as you wanted citation (tell me where to get a citation of wasting everyone's money on pet projects?). The project was about researching movement and feeding of some beach due to movement of the sea. One professor and his assistant bought from the grant money: scuba diving equipment worth tens of thousands of euros, a small boat, video cameras, and couple of high end laptops and computers. The actual work was almost zero, because it was already done on some other beach years previously. And the equipment? In private storage, and used privately after. It is always the same vague answer when you ask someone "where did you get X?": "A project bought it (wink wink)". That's definitely bad. Do something about it. Sound the alarm. Newspapers love stories of public waste. Or don't, if you don't wanna – but don't portray this as being an inherent aspect of EU funding. > A college over here bought a supercomputer some time ago for xxxMM, mostly EU funds. Can you guess what does that computer spend most of its time on? Idling. Sometimes it happens though that they sell processing time to some private company. Obviously money well spent. But the company who sold it made very solid money. Same as above. > Couple of years ago they opened a new (public) college here which has two times three or four story full glass staircases. Do you know how much that costs? Millions of EU money. Couldn't they make do with concrete/steel staircases? So the moral of the story is, there is a whole industry here specialised in extracting EU funds to go to private or semi private pockets. On one hand they are pretty open about it, and about some other stuff they don't like to talk about (at least in public). Newspapers have bigger fishes to fry. Not that can anyone can do anything anymore because nobody give a flying one. Now you seem to have digressed to a general rant about misuse of completely different EU budgets. Is your gripe just a general one about how your country is misusing EU funds? It doesn't seem very related to research funding.

jq-r 5y ago
Obviously I've touched a nerve there. I painted a small picture how the EU research grants are being misused and this being a just a part of bigger problem with EU money over here. Did I claim anything about your country? Of course not. You might be upset that money is not well spent everywhere, and I hear you. Just don't pretend that those problems don't exist. Go flame somebody else please. Thanks.