美国高校联邦政府科研项目间接成本补偿制度沿革[1]

The History of Indirect Cost Reimbursement for Government-Sponsored Research in American Universities

摘要:

美国联邦政府、高校管理人员和科研人员等主体长期的利益博弈推动着间接成本补偿制度的变革与完善。基于不同历史时期的核心特征，美国高校联邦政府科研项目间接成本补偿制度沿革先后经历了分散管理、统一协商、精细核算、监督问责、法规执行五个阶段。其制度变革的总体趋势呈现出制度管理由“分散”到“统一”，成本核算由“粗糙”到“精细”，确定机制由“繁”到“简”的特点。“成本分担”理念贯穿其制度变革始终，表明其实质是非完全成本补偿，高校需分担部分间接成本。

Abstract:

The long-term interest game among the federal government, university administrators and researchers promotes the reform and improvement of the indirect cost reimbursement system. Based on the core characteristics of different historical periods, the indirect cost reimbursement system has experienced five stages: Decentralized Management, Unified Negotiation, Accurate Accounting, Supervision and Accountability, and Effective Implementation. The general trend of institutional reform shows the characteristics of institutional management from "decentralization" to "centralization", cost accounting from "roughness" to "delicacy", and determination mechanism from "complexity" to "simplicity". The idea of "cost sharing" runs through the whole system reform, which indicates that the essence of "cost sharing" is incomplete cost reimbursement, and colleges and universities need to share part of indirect costs.