Agency Budget Statements - DETYA - Section 2 - Outcome 3

• Outcome 3 and Contributing Outputs

• Description

• Budget Measures Affecting Outcome 3

• Resources for Outcome 3

• Contribution of Outputs to Outcome 3

• Performance Information for Outcome 3

• Evaluations for Outcome 3

• Competitive Tendering and Contracting

An organisation chart showing Outcome 2 and Contributing Outputs is available.

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Australian institutions advance the knowledge base, contribute to the national innovation system and participate effectively in the global development of knowledge and skills.

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Commonwealth investment in higher education research and research training supports the development of the new knowledge and innovation necessary to stimulate the new business development and jobs growth on which Australia’s prosperity and living standards depend. It encourages universities to be active partners with enterprises and other research organisations, facilitating the flow of knowledge, people and expertise both locally and internationally. Specific investment in research training, one of the vital functions of the higher education system, ensures the growth of the trained researcher workforce and the ongoing transfer of knowledge and technique.

The Government remains committed to fostering opportunities for Australians in the international community through its support of international education and training initiatives. Its leadership in the global development of skills and knowledge contributes to the recognition of Australia as a culturally, scientifically, technologically and intellectually sophisticated country.

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The Government will provide additional ongoing funding for the Research Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities (RIEF) Scheme to boost base funding to $24.6 million per annum from 2001. The RIEF Scheme funds large items of research infrastructure for collaborative use by universities, research organisations and industry and supports access by Australian researchers to major national and international research facilities.

These additional funds will further promote private investment in Australia’s research infrastructure, while universities, research organisations and industry partners contribute at least 25 per cent of the cost of equipment and facilities acquired under the Scheme.

The Government will maintain current funding levels for the Strategic Partnerships with Industry Research Training (SPIRT) Scheme on an ongoing basis, providing $13.0 million in 2001-02, $24.7 million in 2002-03 and $25.1 million in 2003-04. Provision for this funding has already been included in the Forward Estimates. This measure extends the Government’s 1998 election commitment to provide additional funding for SPIRT for a three-year period, and provides ongoing base funding of $56.8 million per calendar year.

The Scheme aims to improve links between universities and industry by supporting collaborative research projects undertaken to acquire new knowledge and by providing awards and fellowships for training in industrial settings. The Scheme leverages substantial financial contributions from industry partners that, at a minimum, match Commonwealth funding.

The Government will provide a one-off grant of $0.2 million in 2000-01 to the Australian-American Education (Fulbright) Foundation for the purchase of office space for its headquarters. This grant is additional to the Commonwealth’s annual contribution of $0.5 million to assist with the Foundation’s education and scholarship programmes, and complements a one-off contribution of $0.4 million from the government of the United States of America for the Foundation’s accommodation.

This measure is being fully absorbed within existing resourcing of the Department.

The Department maintains the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS), which is a register of providers of education and training services for overseas students. All such providers are required to be registered on CRICOS, and pay annual registration fees. The Government and decided to increase these annual fees in the context of its decision to take a more active role in the regulation and registration of the education export industry. The amount of the increase to an individual provider will be dependent upon the number of overseas students enrolled.

The Education Services Overseas Students (Registration of Providers and Financial Regulation) (ESOS) Act 1991 will be amended to strengthen the regulatory framework for the provision of education services for overseas students, including the establishment of a fidelity fund for overseas student providers. This will enable the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs to take a much more active role in the investigation, monitoring and pursuit of non-compliance by providers of education services.

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Table 2.1.3 shows total resourcing for Outcome 3, including Total Administered Expenses, Revenue from Government (Appropriation) for Outputs, Revenue from other sources and the Total Price of Outputs. Cell references C3, E3 and J3 show the links back to Table 1.1 , the Appropriations Table.

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Outcome 3 - Australian institutions advance the knowledge base, contribute to the national innovation system and participate effectively in the global development of knowledge and skills - Australian institutions advance the knowledge base, contribute to the national innovation system and participate effectively in the global development of knowledge and skills

Notes: 1. This includes credits in the Budget Estimate to the Australian International Education Fund Account.

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The Department’s third Outcome reflects the research training, research activities and international activities of the Department. There are three Output Groups:

a) Block funding for higher education research and research training;

b) Higher education competitive research programmes; and

c) Internationalisation of Australian education and training.

The first two Output Groups reflects the variety of research and research training programmes administered by the Portfolio on behalf of the Government. As part of the implementation of the new higher education research and research training framework, Knowledge and Innovation, announced by the Government in December 1999, interim programme arrangements will apply for calendar year 2000. The higher education research and research training programmes will be administered by the Department and are included under Output Group 3.1, while those which are to be administered by the Australian Research Council are included under Output Group 3.2.

Block funding for higher education research and research training (Output Group 3.1) includes funds for Australian Postgraduate Awards, International Postgraduate Research Scholarships, and for the Research Infrastructure Block Grant (RIBG) and Small Grants schemes. These programmes will be subsumed in new programme arrangements to be put in place over the course of 2000 and 2001. In addition, block funding for higher education research and research training activities is provided as part of the university operating grants reported under Output Group 2.1.

Higher education competitive research programmes (Output Group 3.2) includes a wide range of programmes administered by the Australian Research Council that are available on a competitive basis to individuals or research teams. These include the Large Grants, Strategic Partnerships with Industry – Research and Training, Research Fellowships, Research Infrastructure Equipment and Facilities, International Researcher Exchange Schemes, funds for Special Research Centres, Key Centres of Teaching and Research, project grants for the Learned Academies and funding for the Australian and New Zealand Council for the Care of Animals in Research and Teaching.

The third Output Group focuses on the Department’s international activities including Australian Education International, regulation of overseas student providers, the recognition of overseas qualifications and a range of small initiatives aimed at increasing our international participation.

In undertaking these activities, the Department is developing and implementing streamlined policies and administrative arrangements to improve financial accountability. Some of the outputs contributing to this Outcome are highlighted below.

In December 1999 the Government released its policy statement, Knowledge and Innovation, which outlines a new policy and funding framework for higher education research and research training. The new framework will assist Australia to be a competitive global knowledge economy by providing stronger incentives for collaboration between universities and industry, establishing the Australian Research Council as an independent body with management responsibility for competitive research programmes, encouraging better quality training for postgraduate research students, establishing a new quality assurance system for research and research training, and ensuring that the research and research training needs and interests of regional communities are addressed.

In 2000-01 new administrative arrangements will also enable greater emphasis to be placed on the research of overseas education systems, improving international arrangements for the recognition of qualifications and enhancing the portability of Australian qualifications. In addition to continuing to provide a range of services to individuals with overseas qualifications, NOOSR will develop a more effective framework for the monitoring of assessments of overseas qualifications undertaken by external agencies.

Participation in the international education sector is expected to continue to grow. Expenditure by overseas students contributed an estimated $3.1 billion to Australia’s economy in 1999, up from $2.9 billion in 1998. Approximately $1.6 billion was paid directly in fees to institutions and $1.5 billion indirectly in the purchase of goods and services, such as accommodation. The growth reflects the significant growth in higher education enrolments (which generate the highest levels of fees and other expenditure by students of all sectors) and return to growth in ELICOS compared to 1998, offset by the fall in enrolments in the other two sectors – schools and vocational education and training. Earnings from the export of Australian education and training services in 1999 constituted 2.7 per cent of Australian exports of goods and services or 11.3 per cent of total service exports.

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Performance information for Outcome 3 relates to the strategic priorities for the Department and sets out the expected performance levels during 2000-01. This encompasses:

a) the overall effectiveness in achieving the Outcome;

b) the performance of third parties in delivering outputs on behalf of the Government, funded from administered items; and

c) Departmental Outputs to support the Outcome, and categorised in terms of Administration, Policy Advising, Ministerial and Parliamentary Services, Research, Analysis and Evaluation, and Service Delivery.

The Strategic Partnerships with Industry - Research and Training (SPIRT) Scheme is the major programme aimed at encouraging the development of university research-industry links. In 2000, 667 industry partners have undertaken to provide $30.6 million for collaborative research activities through cash and in-kind contributions in 441 new projects.

(Source: Higher Education Report for the 2000 to 2002 triennium)

In 2000, 285 commencing Large Grants Scheme projects (46 per cent) will involve international collaboration with researchers in 58 countries. 18 Fellowships and 89 Awards will be provided under the International Researcher Exchange Scheme in 2000. International co-operation in the co-authorship of research articles will be assessed against the 1996 benchmark for OECD countries. (latest available data).

(Source: Higher Education Report for the 2000 to 2002 triennium and unpublished data)

Performance in regard to persons with higher degrees will be assessed against the 1998 benchmark (most recently available data). See performance indicator for Outcome 2 for details.

Performance of Australia's share of the World's output of research papers and citations will be assessed against the 1997 benchmark (most recently available data). For the five years to 1997:

(Source: Department of Industry, Science and Resources)

(Source: Department of Industry, Science and Resources)

The number of Australian patents and the links between Australian research publications and US patent applications will be benchmarked in 2000 through a methodology developed by US based CHI Research.

The Department expects an increasing level of international trade in education, training and professional services during 2000-01. Performance will be assessed against 1999 performance of 157,834 overseas students studying in Australia and their estimated contribution to the Australian economy of $3.1 billion.

In December 1999, the Government released its White Paper Knowledge and Innovation. During 2000 the new National Competitive Grants Programme will be developed by the ARC for implementation in 2001. It will subsume a number of existing ARC referred programmes under two elements, Discovery and Linkage. For example the Large Grants scheme will come under Discovery and the SPIRT scheme will come under Linkage.

The ARC’s new organisational structure will also be implemented progressively during 2000, with full implementation proposed from the commencement of 2001. This involves the development and passage through Parliament of the ARC Bill as well as the appointment of a part time Chair, a full time CEO and up to 6 full time programme managers, who will oversight the peer review process for the allocation of research funding for the competitive research programmes. A new accountability framework for the ARC will also be implemented from 2000 onwards. During 2000 this involves the development of the ARC’s first three-year Strategic Plan which will be complemented by the tabling in Parliament of an ARC Annual Report for 2000-01.

• Reforming regulation of the overseas student industry

A major review of the ESOS Act, undertaken in consultation with State education authorities and providers of services for overseas students, made recommendations aimed at tightening regulation of the market as a quality assurance measure. Implementation in consultation with key stakeholders will occur during 2000-01 and will include the introduction of a code of practice and a range of new financial assurance, monitoring and investigation measures.

The following performance indicators are common to all Departmental Outputs:

The following performance indicators are specific to Output Group 3.1:

The following performance indicators are specific to Output Group 3.2:

The following performance indicators are specific to Output Group 3.3:

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Information on planned evaluation activity that relates to this outcome is included in Table 2.2.3 above and the results will be shown in the Annual Report.

The Department will undertake research, analysis and evaluation studies to address policy and programme requirements of the output group, ensuring that such studies are completed on time. For the coming year these will include:

• 2000 Review of the Learned Academies; and
  

• Strengthening the Knowledge Contribution of the University to the Economic Competitiveness of the Local Region.

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The following Departmental Outputs will continue to be subject to contracting out of all or part of service delivery to external providers during 2000-01:

• administration of some overseas awards and scholarships will be contracted out
  

• In 2000-01, devolution of responsibility for the assessment of overseas qualifications to the professions themselves in a number of occupations will be finalised as follows: veterinary science, occupational therapy - by July 2000; chiropractors, osteopaths, valuers and nuclear medicine technologists - by December 2000.

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Other Outcomes

• Outcome 1
• Outcome 2

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