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Contents > 3. Research and Research Training > 3.1 Framework for higher education research and research training
3.1 Framework for higher education research
and research training
Whole of Government objectives
The Government gave public recognition to the vital role played by Australia’s universities in the research and innovation system in January 2001 with the release of Backing Australia’s Ability: An Innovation Action Plan for the Future. It acknowledged that universities are the nation’s leading providers of training for our future research workforce and that they generate much of the new knowledge which is essential to Australia’s long term economic growth and social cohesion. It will directly contribute an additional $1.3 billion to university research and research training over the period 2002–2006 and will attract additional funding for research through measures such as the continuation of the R&D Start programme and the 175 per cent R&D tax concession.
The new funding arrangements
In December 1999, the former Minister, Dr Kemp, announced new funding arrangements for higher education research in the Government’s white paper, Knowledge and Innovation: A policy statement on research and research training. The new streamlined system of funding is designed to encourage institutions to be more flexible and responsive in developing a strategic portfolio of research activities and research training programmes, and to secure the benefits to be derived from the endeavours and achievements of individual researchers and teams.
The new system involves a performance based system for block funding of university research and research training activities administered by the Department and peer-reviewed competitive grants administered by various research granting agencies, of which the most important are the Australian Research Council (ARC), operating within the Education, Science and Training portfolio, and the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) within the Health and Ageing portfolio.
Funding for performance-based programmes is appropriated through the Higher Education Funding Act 1988. The individual programmes are listed below. Universities also expend a portion of their operating resources on research and research training.
Research training:
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Research Training Scheme;
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Australian Postgraduate Awards Scheme; and
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International Postgraduate Research Scholarships Scheme.
University research:
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Institutional Grants Scheme;
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Research Infrastructure Block Grants Scheme; and
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Systemic Infrastructure Initiative.
The new Australian Research Council
In Knowledge and Innovation, the Government announced its intention to establish a new role for the Australian Research Council as an independent, responsive and more strategic organisation that would better support the advancement of knowledge and maximise its contribution to the national innovation system.
The ARC is now an independent body within the Education, Science and Training portfolio operating under its own Act. The Australian Research Council Act 2001 came into effect on 1 July 2001. The new ARC administers funding appropriated under the ARC Act with the Minister determining the amount to be spent under each programme element and approving projects based on ARC recommendations.
As part of its reform of the ARC, the Government announced that it would ‘put in place a better focussed, more coherent and flexible competitive grants programme…’. That intention is reflected in the new programme structure that has now been fully implemented by the Council. The main programme elements are listed in Section 3.4.
Research and Research Training Management Reports
Universities have been required to provide Research and Research Training Management Reports (RRTMRs) as part of their profiles documentation since 2000. These reports form a major part of the accountability requirements announced by the former Minister in Knowledge and Innovation. Recent amendments to the Higher Education Funding Act 1988 make approval of grants under the block research funding schemes contingent on universities having an approved RRTMR in place.
The guidelines for producing the RRTMR were developed in 2000, and adapted in 2001, to take account of feedback received from institutions and the sector as a whole. The 2001 guidelines allowed institutions greater freedom and flexibility in developing RRTMRs specific to their individual circumstances. Each institution was required to report against a set of performance indicators to allow comparisons of performance within and between institutions over time.
The 2002 guidelines will be released early in 2002 and will take into account feedback from the sector received during the 2001 Profiles discussions. The 2002 guidelines will require institutions to report on performance, and demonstrate improvement, in managing intellectual property (IP) and the process of commercialising research. The 2002 RRTMRs will be published by the Department. Claims in RRTMRs will be audited by the Australian Universities Quality Agency and monitored for consistency with the National Principles of Intellectual Property Management for Publicly Funded Research, released in 2001.
Priority Research Areas
Backing Australia’s Ability flagged the need for an emphasis on research in which Australia enjoys or wants to build competitive advantage. In January 2002 the Minister announced four priority research areas for the Australian Research Council’s 2003 funding round under the National Competitive Grants Program. These are nano-materials and bio-materials, genome/phenome research, complex/intelligent systems, and photon science and technology.
A total of 33 per cent of ARC funding in the 2003 round will be targeted at these priority areas to support project grants and centres for up to five years, at a cost of approximately $150 to $170 million.
The priority research areas were adopted on the advice of a working group of the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council following deliberations of the ARC’s own Expert Advisory Committees and the ARC Board.
Priority areas will be funded through the establishment of new Centres of Excellence concentrating teams of researchers in these areas, and through the ARC’s Discovery and Linkage grants to outstanding individual researchers. Funding for grants and centres will be guided by factors including research excellence, potential national benefit and capacity to build scale, focus and critical mass in these areas.