• Description
• The Commonwealth's Role
• Resources
• Planning for resource usage
• Achievements against the Strategic Priorities
  • Departmental Outputs
  • Strategic Priority 1: Strengthening the ability of universities to generate and transfer new knowledge
  • Strategic Priority 2: Development of the national research priorities
  • Strategic Priority 3: International promotion of the capability of Australian education, science and training

Description

Australia produces only a small share of the world’s science, research and innovation. International engagement is essential to effectively employ knowledge and innovation produced elsewhere in the world. A strong national and internationally-connected science, education, research and innovation capacity will lead to the development of new businesses, higher productivity, jobs growth, a more sustainable and vigorous intellectual environment, and higher levels of social wellbeing. International engagement promotes innovation, develops people-to-people links and underpins Australia’s competitiveness, trade, skilled migration, foreign relations and national security.

Australia’s science, research and innovation system is diverse, pluralistic and decentralised. Its funders and providers include Australian Government departments, state government and private research agencies and organisations, universities, health and medical research laboratories and organisations, and industry research and development organisations.

Australia’s international education activities are also diverse. All sectors of the education system are engaged, including both public and private providers; there are onshore and offshore activities involving international and domestic students, researchers and educational professionals. They also cover government-to-government activities, including memoranda of understanding, and engagement with multilateral forums, such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), World Trade Organisation (WTO), and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

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The Commonwealth’s role

The Commonwealth has four key roles in Australian research, science, and innovation. They are to:

• invest in research, science and innovation to support the development and use of new knowledge;

• stimulate and strengthen awareness throughout the community of the need for, and the value of, research, science and innovation;

• foster domestic and international collaboration; and

• provide leadership in the global development of skills and knowledge.

The Commonwealth’s framework for research, science and innovation is articulated in the Research White Paper Knowledge and Innovation, announced in 1999, and in Backing Australia’s Ability – An Innovation Plan for the Future, announced by the Prime Minister in 2001. Backing Australia’s Ability sets out a $3 billion, five-year strategy for research and innovation.

As its investment in the science, research and innovation system is spread across a number of portfolios, the Commonwealth has established a range of mechanisms for whole of government or multi-portfolio decision making and coordination. Of particular importance is the Science and Innovation Committee. The Minister for Science has day-to-day responsibility for monitoring the successful and timely implementation of Backing Australia’s Ability. Portfolio Ministers also contribute to the Sustainable Environment Committee of Cabinet, the Biotechnology Australia Ministerial Board, the National Oceans Ministerial Board and the National Food Industry Council.

The Commonwealth has a key role in facilitating a sustainable education and training export industry through collaboration with overseas and domestic governments and agencies, industry providers and other stakeholders. The regulatory framework provided under the Education Services for Overseas Students (ESOS) Act 2000, the Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students (CRICOS) and the National Code of Practice for Registration Authorities and Providers of Education and Training to Overseas Students (National Code), assures the quality of the education and training industry for overseas students studying in Australia.

In its work to assist the Commonwealth in achieving its strategy for research, science, innovation and international education and training, the department has three distinct but closely interrelated foci:

• policy advice and other support provided to the Ministers;

• efficient programme management; and

• fostering and achieving cooperative and effective partnerships with international, state and territory governments, research organisations, education and training providers and other stakeholders.

Policy advice to the Minister is underpinned by the department’s range of in-depth research, analysis and evaluation, which also informs the policy debate within the research, science, innovation and international education communities.

The department also administers a range of programmes and legislation and uses its influence to negotiate and liaise with stakeholders to achieve the best possible outcomes for the Commonwealth.

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Resources

In 2002–03, total resources allocated for Outcome 3 were $529 million. The department administered $472 million (Administered Appropriation) on behalf of the Commonwealth through three administered output groups:

• Output Group 3.1 — funding for higher education research;

• Output Group 3.2 — assistance for science collaboration and innovation; and

• Output Group 3.3 — support for the Australian education and training export industry and international relationships.

The department used Departmental Appropriations of $44 million and raised $15 million in revenue to total almost $60 million for five departmental outputs:

• administration;

• policy advising;

• ministerial and parliamentary service;

• research, analysis and evaluation; and

• service delivery.

Table 26 sets out the resources invested in Outcome 3 for 2002–03.

Table 26: Resources invested in Outcome 3

a Additional Estimates

b The Departmental Outputs figures do not include resources provided free of charge

Notes:

Administered: The difference of $28.0 million (six per cent) between the actual for 2002–03 and the budget for Administered Expenses is due mainly to the transfer of the Small Grants Research programme to Outcome 2 during the year.

Departmental: The total price of output exceeded budget by $2.7 million. Variances at the output group level reflect the process of attributing costs to outputs on an actual basis. In particular, the actual figure for assistance for science and innovation, where the budget figure was based on the direct resources transferred from the Industry, Training and Resources Portfolio, has been based on full cost attribution.

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Planning for resource usage

To provide a business planning framework and operational focus within the department to support the Commonwealth’s long-term outcome for research, science, innovation and international education and training, three strategic priorities, or medium term goals, were identified for 2002–03. As can be seen from Figure 28, output groups can contribute to more than one strategic priority. The departmental outputs are also applied across all of the strategic priorities.

Figure 28: Alignment of Strategic Priorities and Output Groups for Outcome 3

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Achievements against the Strategic Priorities

The deliverables for each of these strategic priorities were outlined in the 2002–03 Portfolio Budget Statements, along with performance measures and planned performance targets for the year. The discussion following outlines what the department did through the year to support Outcome 3 and how well the department performed in relation to its total resources.

Departmental outputs

Performance information on the departmental outputs is only available at the outcome level.

The department administered grants and payments to higher education institutions and other organisations and individuals, in relation to research, science and innovation and international education. It also administered the regulatory framework for international education and training under the ESOS Act. Payments made under the Higher Education Funding Act 1988 are subject to compliance with payment and management processes as measured through the Administered Funds Quality Assurance Packages developed for selected programmes, based on a risk assessment process.

The department implemented a new payments system, Unipay, in November 2002. The system was designed and implemented in accordance with the department’s software development methodology and subjected to pre-implementation testing. A post-implementation audit has not yet been completed and therefore results for higher education administration are not available in relation to payments made through Unipay.

The department takes a lead role in whole of government policy development and coordination. The Prime Minister and Ministers were satisfied with the timeliness and usefulness of advice received from both the Chief Scientist and the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council (PMSEIC) and the conduct of the annual Science Prizes awards ceremony.

During 2002–03 the department provided in excess of 660 briefs to the Minister and prepared over 1700 replies to Ministerial correspondence for Outcome 3. It also responded to over 900 Parliamentary questions. The department’s performance in delivering these services is assessed against a number of criteria. The Minister rates briefings against a five point scale with regard to timeliness, presentation and quality, and ministerial and parliamentary services are assessed according to timeliness. Ministerial briefings received a rating of good or excellent in 87 per cent of cases for presentation and quality and 79 per cent for timeliness (see Table 27).

Table 27: The department’s performance on services to the Minister and Parliament

Source: Department of Education, Science and Training.

The department continued its ongoing research and analysis on a range of policy issues. Three publications were produced and specific details of these are reported under each strategic priority. The effectiveness of research, analysis and evaluation activities is also reported under each strategic priority.

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Strategic Priority 1: Strengthen the ability of universities to generate and transfer new knowledge

Universities, as major producers of basic and applied research, have a central role to play in building Australia’s competitive strengths in generating and using new knowledge.

Funding arrangements for university research changed significantly following the release of the Research White Paper Knowledge and Innovation in 1999 and were further enhanced in 2001 with the additional funding provided under Backing Australia’s Ability for the period 2001–02 to 2005–06.

The Commonwealth provides funding for Major National Research Facilities (MNRFs) and Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs) to provide infrastructure and support the commercialisation and utilisation of ideas from industry research collaboration. Universities are key partners in these collaborative ventures. Both the MNRF and CRC programmes received enhanced funding under Backing Australia’s Ability.

Output Group 3.1: Funding for higher education research

The department administers a number of sources of funding for university research and research training activities. The Research Training Scheme reported under Outcome 2 is the primary source of funds for research training. The major performance-based block grants that are used to underpin the fabric of universities’ research capacity are the Research Infrastructure Block Grants and the Institutional Grants Scheme. The Systemic Infrastructure Initiative reported under Outcome 2 also contributes.

The department continued to ensure the quality of universities’ research and research training arrangements through the requirement for Research and Research Training Management Reports as part of universities’ Educational Profiles. To encourage a greater focus on the utilisation of university research, from 2002 universities have been required to report on intellectual property management and processes for the commercialisation of research. These reports must be in place before block grants are approved. All universities provided an acceptable report in 2002, for 2003 funding as indicated in Table 28. The level of research infrastructure funding, as also indicated in Table 28, has been maintained.

Table 28: Performance information for Output Group 3.1

Source: Department of Education, Science and Training.

The department also encouraged universities and researchers to adopt a more entrepreneurial approach to the commercialisation of university research by commissioning Knowledge Commercialisation Australasia to plan and present a three-day Commercialisation Forum and Fair of Ideas in March 2003. The event brought together researchers from publicly-funded institutions and potential investors and built commercialisation expertise.

The information and communications technology infrastructure initiatives under the Systemic Infrastructure Initiative supported under Outcome 2, such as the Australian Research and Education Network and projects to improve access to online information resources, also contribute significantly to the higher education sector’s ability to generate and use new knowledge.

Our Universities: Backing Australia’s Future, the outcomes of the Commonwealth’s review of Australia’s higher education system (see Outcome 2) included measures for evaluating and streamlining the current research arrangements. The following initiatives will be progressed during 2003–04:

• evaluating programmes funded until 2005–06 under Backing Australia’s Ability;

• developing a national strategy on research infrastructure, which will apply to publicly-funded higher education institutions and research agencies. This will be undertaken by a taskforce established by the Commonwealth, involving universities, the Australian Research Council (ARC), the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), other Commonwealth-funded research agencies, and the state and territory governments;

• reviewing the scope for facilitating greater collaboration between universities and other Commonwealth-funded research agencies. A high level taskforce consisting of leading figures in research and industry has been established to undertake the review. The taskforce is due to report its findings in late 2003; and

• evaluating the Knowledge and Innovation reforms. This activity is being oversighted by an External Reference Group comprising representatives from universities and the ARC.

These reviews, combined with a strategic exercise to map Australia’s science and innovation activities across the public and private sectors (see Strategic Priority 2 for details), will provide a firm basis for establishing the Australian Government’s research policy directions.

Output Group 3.2: Science collaboration and innovation

The MNRF programme funds expensive, large equipment items or highly specialised laboratories, which add strategic capability to Australia’s research infrastructure. The programme received funding under Backing Australia’s Ability. By the end of 2002–03, the department had finalised contracts with all 15 MNRFs (see Table 29).

The CRC programme brings together universities, research organisations, government agencies and industry, to undertake activities in world-class research and innovation. During 2002–03, the department managed ongoing contracts for over 60 CRCs (see Table 29).

The department also supported the CRC Committee and Expert Panels in a major selection round which was completed in December 2002. Record funding of more than $478 million was approved by the Minister for Science for 30 successful applicants, resulting in 12 new CRCs, nine centres to be developed from existing CRCs, and nine centres receiving supplementary funding. Contract negotiations with the successful CRCs were undertaken in the first half of 2003.

The department commenced an evaluation of the CRC programme in 2003, to ensure that it continues to provide the most effective support for research that will benefit the Australian community, environment and economy. The results of this evaluation will inform the 2004 round of the programme.

Stakeholder satisfaction with the MNRF and CRC programmes was measured through the department’s stakeholder survey. The benchmark was set at 80 per cent, indicating high levels of satisfaction.

Table 29: Performance information for Output Group 3.2

Source: Department of Education, Science and Training

Effectiveness of Output Groups 3.1 & 3.2 in achieving the Outcome

The ability of universities to generate and use new knowledge is demonstrated through their ability to win competitive research grants and research and development contracts. Universities’ ability to contribute to the stock of knowledge is measured by the number of research publications produced. The performance of Australian universities in both of these areas continues to improve as shown by the increases indicated in Figure 29 and Figure 30.

Figure 29: Universities’ research income

Source: Department of Education, Science and Training

Figure 30: Number of research publications produced by higher education institutions

Source: Department of Education, Science and Training

The number of scientific and technical publications and the number of patents issued to Australian residents in Australia, all indicate the extent to which research is providing an effective base from which Australia gains economic growth and social development (see Figure 31 and Figure 32 respectively).

Figure 31: Number of scientific and technical publications per million population

Source: National Science Indicators Database 1981– 2001, Institute of Scientific Information, cat. no.3101.0, ABS, Canberra

Figure 32: Number of patents issued to Australian residents in Australia

Source: IP Australia

International comparisons of the commercial exploitation of Australia’s research can now be made following the release in September 2002 of the Year 2000 National Survey of Research Commercialisation. This survey collected information on invention disclosures, patents and plant breeder rights, licensing activity and income, and start-up company formation. The key findings of the survey and an international comparison are shown below in Table 30.

The survey demonstrated the substantial contribution to the commercialisation of research being made by universities, medical research institutes and the CSIRO, and forms a benchmark against which future performance can be assessed.

Table 30: Key findings of the Year 2000 National Survey on Research Commercialisation

Source: Year 2000 National Survey of Research Commercialisation

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