e-news on higher education

Biotechnology Centre of Excellence

The Government’s Innovation Action Plan, Backing Australia’s Ability, released in January this year, allocated $46.5 million over 5 years to establish one or more biotechnology centres of excellence. The primary focus of the centre(s) will be the development and application of critical technologies for biotechnology commercialisation, to help establish Australia as a regional and world centre for biotechnology innovation.

Selection of the Centre(s) will be competitive and based on the quality of the research and business linkages detailed in applications. The final decision will be made jointly by the Ministers for Industry, Science and Resources and Education, Training and Youth Affairs, with recommendations being made by the Commonwealth Biotechnology Ministerial Council on advice from a panel of experts. The Panel of Experts, to be chaired by Dr. Peter Jonson, was announced on 20 July 2000:

www.minister.industry.gov.au/minchin/releases/2001/july/cmr381%2D01.doc

Consultation with the biotechnology community is an important part of the process of establishing the Biotechnology Centre(s) of Excellence. This involves a Discussion Paper, to stimulate public debate, and stakeholder consultation meetings in various capital cities.

The Discussion Paper has now been released and can be accessed on the Biotechnology Australia Website:

www.biotechnology.gov.au/Industry_Research/CoE/coe.asp

The Expert Panel is seeking comment on issues raised in the Discussion Paper. The closing date for submissions is 6 September 2001. Comments on the Discussion Paper should be emailed in electronic format to ba@isr.gov.au. Please note that submissions received by 24 August will be considered by the Panel at their meeting on 27 August.

Guidelines for applications will be developed after submissions have been taken into consideration.

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Speech Recognition

The University of the Sunshine Coast (USC) is embarking on research to further develop automated speech recognition technology, with the assistance of $500,000 over 3 years from DETYA’s Higher Education Innovation Programme (HEIP).

www.dest.gov.au/highered/programmes/heip.htm

Automated speech recognition is an exciting technology designed to enable students to view a real-time text version of the speech of lecturers and tutors. The text can subsequently be used as a resource and can also be produced in Braille or audio forms to better accommodate people with sight or hearing impairments.

Although specifically designed to assist students with disabilities, this technology could be of use to all students. It is also an excellent example of mainstreaming approaches to supporting people with disabilities.

The development of automated speech recognition as a mainstream teaching tool was pioneered as ‘Liberated Learning’ by St Mary’s University, Halifax in Canada. Partners in the USC project include St Mary’s University and corporate partners such as IBM. The project has multi-institutional and cross-sectoral support with a number of universities and TAFEs already agreeing to work with USC on the research.

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Workplace Reform

E-news has reported each new batch of universities that qualify for extra funding for staff salaries under the Workplace Reform Programme.

The latest universities to be awarded funding are Edith Cowan University, Northern Territory University and Victoria University of Technology. Between them, the three universities will receive more than $5 million over 18 months, which will fund an approximate
two per cent salary increase.

31 institutions have now successfully applied for funding under the Programme, which is providing up to $259 million over three years to universities that demonstrate their commitment to improving their workplace relations and management practices.

These latest universities have demonstrated progress in a number of areas. Edith Cowan University and Victoria University of Technology have introduced performance management arrangements, while the Northern Territory University has put in place an agreement that more effectively aligns its work practices with its strategic plan. All three institutions have developed flexible working practices and introduced measures to increase productivity, make cost savings and generate revenue.

Almost all institutions eligible to apply have now applied and most have been successful in achieving first round funding. A number of institutions are now eligible to apply for second round funding. Guidelines for second round applications are available on DETYA’s Internet site at:

www.dest.gov.au/highered/programmes/workplace_reform/