Australian Higher Education: Snapshot of Development, Policy and Research V. Lynn Meek 7 September...
-
Upload
jeremy-harmon -
Category
Documents
-
view
213 -
download
0
Transcript of Australian Higher Education: Snapshot of Development, Policy and Research V. Lynn Meek 7 September...
Australian Higher Education: Snapshot of Development,
Policy and Research
V. Lynn Meek
7 September 2015
The Australian higher education system
• Federation of 6 States and 2 territories, but public universities primarily funded and regulated by the federal government
• University governance: autonomous, self-accrediting institutions established by act of State parliament, governed by lay council
• National higher education regulator: Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TESQA)
• 37 large to very large public universities; 3 small private universities
• About 94% of students enrolled in public universities and 6% in some 130 private providers
• Annual revenue of $27 billion+
• About 1.4 million higher education students, of whom around 75% are domestic and 25% fee-paying International students
• About 56% of students are female, and one-quarter are postgraduates
2
The Australian higher education system
• Research a legally defining characteristic of Australian universities – must be research active across at least 3 broad fields of study
• Assumption that most academics do both teaching and research as well as community engagement
• Two broad types of research funding: competitive project- based funding and performance-based block research funding
• Australian universities are large/very large comprehensive institutions by international standards
• Particularly in Victoria, a number of universities are dual sector institutions with substantial Technical and Further Education (TAFE) components
• Domestic student tuition fees loan scheme (HECS-HELP) repaid through tax system once employed
• Recent dramatic increase in domestic enrolments due to government uncapping student places
• Current policy debate on deregulation of domestic student tuition fees
University self-defined affiliations
• Go8 – 8, mostly older research-intensive university
• Australian Technology Network of Universities – 5 pre-Dawkins leading Colleges of Advanced Education
• Innovative Research Universities of Australia – 7, mostly newer post-WWII universities
• Regional Universities Network – 6 regional universities
• Other non-aligned universities – 13 institutions
4
University expenditure by source of funds
Australian publications in Web of Science 1981 – 2012, total output and % of world output
Bentley 2014
Top Ten areas of Research Effort in Terms of Output
Go8 2008
Research expenditure by type of research
Norton 2015: 39
Percentage of Higher Education Research & Development (HERD) financed by government sector
OECD 2014
*
Government R&D expenditure, 2006 - 2016
Issues Paper 2015
Main Commonwealth Competitive Research Funding Schemes
• ARC - The Australian Research Council (Discovery & Linkage)• NHMRC - National Health and Medical Research Council
Block grants:• Australian Postgraduate Awards (APA)• International Postgraduate Research Scholarships (IPRS)• Research Training Scheme (RTS) – paid upon graduation• Joint Research Engagement (JRE) – supports joint research activities
between universities, industry and end-users• Research Infrastructure Block Grants (RIGB)• Sustainable Research Excellence (SRE) – support indirect research cost
of competitive grants
Go8 research intensive universities attract around three-quarters of competitive research funding
Issues Paper 2015
ARC and NHMRC grants annual expenditure
Norton 2015: 49
Research Block Grant Funding per university, 2015
Pettigrew 2015
Firms’ research collaboration with higher education or public research institutions
OECD 2013
Federal government agenda to boost commercial returns form research
• Discussion paper ‘Boosting the Commercial Returns form Research October 2014 http://www.education.gov.au/news/discussion-paper-boosting-commercial-returns-research-released
• An agenda for action May 2015 http://www.industry.gov.au/INDUSTRY/INDUSTRYINITIATIVES/Pages/Boosting-the-Commercial-Returns-from-Research.aspx
• Review of Research Policy and Funding Arrangements for Higher Education Issues Paper http://docs.education.gov.au/system/files/doc/other/issues_paper_-_review_of_funding_policy.pdf
ERA (Excellence in Research for Australia) Assessment, 2102
Rating Units of evaluation Percentage
1/2 Well below/below world standard 518 22%
3 At world standard 820 35%
4 Above world standard 594 26%
5 Well above world standard 391 17%
Total 2,323 100%
17
Though pockets of excellence in many unis, Go8 dominated 4&5 ratings
A third of medical & health science rated well above world standard
Australian research and innovation policy issues
• Balance of fundamental research and research for economic return
• Low commercialisation record compared to competitor nations
• Low private sector investment in public research
• Problematic level of government investment in research and funding the full cost of research
• Non-research funding (eg international student fees) heavily subsidising research
• Is the uniform, national, open, competitive grant system the best option for growth and development of the Australian higher education research sector?
• Renewal of research workforce and maintaining strong research culture
Thank you for your attention