McMaster University welcomes the federal government's commitment to boost research funding and support the development of tomorrow's innovative researchers with more graduate scholarship initiatives.

University President Peter George said the budget recognizes the importance of making investments in learning and discovery. The government's focus on students and researchers will have significant payback for McMaster, one of Canada's top three research-intensive universities, and Canada, he noted.

“I'm especially pleased that the government has sent an important signal that increasing the number of graduate students is a vital component to our long-term success,” President George said. “Graduate students are key to developing tomorrow's researchers and the highly skilled personnel Canada needs to be competitive in a global economy. The federal government has shown leadership in supporting university-based research that will benefit all Canadians.”

Mamdouh Shoukri, McMaster's vice-president research & international affairs, said he was encouraged to see the government has committed itself to implementing its Innovation Strategy with support for indirect costs of research and more money for federal granting councils.

The federal budget, unveiled in Ottawa Tuesday, calls for:

• A permanent contribution for indirect research costs
• An increase of $125 million per year for the federal granting councils
• Establishment of the Canada Graduate Scholarships to support 2,000 new master's and 2,000 new doctoral students each year
• Increased support for the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Genome Canada

“McMaster is especially pleased to see the commitment to the National Research Council, for its support of the Atacama Large Millimetre Array astronomy project, which McMaster is involved in, and the development of the regional innovation centres,” Shoukri said. “This is an opportunity to continue our work with our industry partners, other institutions and governments on initiatives in biotechnology and in materials and manufacturing.”