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, 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 commercial-returns-research-releasedhttp:// commercial-returns-research-released An agenda for action May ting-the-Commercial-Returns-from-Research.aspx ting-the-Commercial-Returns-from-Research.aspx Review of Research Policy and Funding Arrangements for Higher Education Issues Paper _review_of_funding_policy.pdf _review_of_funding_policy.pdf

ERA (Excellence in Research for Australia) Assessment, 2102 RatingUnits of evaluationPercentage 1/2 Well below/below world standard51822% 3 At world standard82035% 4 Above world standard59426% 5 Well above world standard39117% Total2,323100% 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

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