Submission to West Committee Review of
Higher Education Financing and Policy
From
Australian Housing and Urban Research
Institute (AHURI)
Submitted by
Professor Mike Berry
Executive Director
AHURI Head Office, Melbourne
Professor Bob Stimson
Director of AHURI at QUT
Associate Professor Chris Maher
Director of AHURI at Monash
Dr Peter Newton
Director of AHURI at CSIRO (DBCE)
The following comments are addressed to Theme five specified in the 'Guidelines for Submissions' to this Review.
The Challenge in Encouraging Collaborative Research
Increasingly it is apparent that many fields of research require collaborative efforts across disciplines, and that research output (quality and quantity) can be enhanced by collaboration across institutions. Programs such as the Key Centres for Teaching and Research and Special Research Centres sponsored through the Australian Research Council (ARC), and the cooperative efforts between universities, industry and CSIRO through the Cooperative Centres Program (CRCs) represent important initiatives to enhance the formation and performance of high quality research teams.
However, these institutions do not represent the range of potential approaches that might be considered, particularly in developing more focused and concentrated research thrusts in areas of national significance where applied and policy outcomes are an objective in addition to fostering theoretical and methodological advances in research.
The AHURI Model
We believe it is important to draw to the attention of the Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education (West Committee) the model under which the Australian Housing and Urban Research In Institute (AHURI) was established and to point to its success as a national research institute initiative.
AHURI was established in July 1993 following a nation-wide competition to form a national research institute focusing on social and economic aspects of housing and urban research in Australia. The recommendation for such an initiative emerged from the Commonwealth Government's National Housing Strategy. Sponsorship of AHURI was guaranteed for three years by the Commonwealth and all the State and Territory Governments (through their Housing Ministers), and there was a requirement for this to be at least matched by "in kind" and "cash" contributions by the successful bidding institution(s).
Eleven university based research consortia bid for the right to establish this facility. A consortium of experienced housing and urban researchers was put together by CSIRO (Division of Building, Construction and Engineering), Monash University, Queensland University of Technology, and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, and was awarded the Institute by the national selection committee in late-1992.
A formal legal agreement between the Institute consortium institutions and the nine sponsoring governments sets the framework for the funding and operation of AHURI.
The model developed by AHURI is a "strongly centred network organisation". The AHURI headquarters is in Melbourne's CBD, with a second office in Brisbane at QUT's Gardens Point city campus.
There is a Board of Management appointed by the relevant Commonwealth Minister (currently the Minister for Social Security, who is also the Housing Minister), with public, private, and community sector members, plus the Deputy Vice Chancellors (Research) of the three consortium universities and the Deputy Chief of Division of CSIRO.
There is an Executive Director, recruited through national and international advertisement, with Directors of AHURI to coordinate operations at each of the four consortium institutions - collectively they form the Management Committee advising the Executive Director who is responsible to the Board for the management and achievements of the Institute .
The Institute conducts two national programs of research - the Housing Research Program, coordinated out of the Melbourne office, and the Sustainable Urban and Regional Development Research Program, coordinated out of the Brisbane office.
Networking across the consortium institutions - as well as beyond by tapping expertise in other universities, and where appropriate the private sector and public sectors - is a hallmark of the way research is conducted by AHURI, generally in multi disciplinary project teams..
Within the consortium, about 30 researchers are involved either full time (e.g. Professorial Fellows, Senior Research Fellows, Research Fellows, Post Doctoral Fellows, of which currently there are 7 employed) or fractional time as "in kind" contributions (ranging from 20% to 70% of time). Around 25 individuals/firms beyond the consortium have been involved in research projects. Typically, about 15 to 18 staff are employed at both the Melbourne and Brisbane offices, which provides a comprehensive infrastructure to support research.
In addition, AHURI has developed a series of formal agreements to link with similar institutes in Northern America, Western Europe and Asia. The Institute has gradually developed a program of activities in urban development, management and training, in the Asia-pacific region, with support from AusAID, the United Nations and the World Bank.
The AHURI consortium was independently reviewed in late 1995, by the international chartered accounting firm, Coopers and Lybrand, and the recommendation for continued funding for a further three year term was agreed to by the Commonwealth and the State and Territory Governments to take effect from July 1996.
The Benefits of the AHURI Model
A prime benefit of the AHURI model is the way it has facilitated collaborative research involving teams across institutions and disciplines. In excess of 70 specific projects have been conducted by AHURI over the past three years. Many of these have been major pieces of policy research conducted for governments at all levels, but much of the research activity has been funded through competitive grants (e.g. ARC), research contracts and consortium institution internal research funding schemes. The vast majority of AHURI's research output is published through normal academic channels, plus the Institute's own research publication series. A number of reports have been published by the government printers. In excess of 200 publications have been produced by AHURI staff and research associates since 1993.
The existence of a national institute has been a major advantage in attracting external funding, and often AHURI is approached by government and industry bodies to conduct research.
AHURI is attracting a steady stream of overseas researchers to visit Australia and this is proving of great benefit to the internationalisation of research via the AHURI network.
AHURI has also become a focus for postgraduate research student training in the fields of housing and urban research. In 1996 there were 31 PhD/Masters research students attached to the Institute at Monash, QUT and RMIT.
A particularly important attribute of the AHURI model is the way core government funding is leveraged. Reference to the 1995/96 FY indicates the success of the model in this regard. In that FY the total "on budget" funding of AHURI was $4.7m, of which $546,256 came from the core Commonwealth and the State and Territory government sponsors, representing 12% of the Institute's budget. The AHURI consortium partners provided $190,000 in cash, and $2,877,978 "in kind" (measured using the Government/AVCC agreed formula for measuring "in kind" contributions for CRCs), representing 68% of the funding. A further $908,000 or 20% was raised through other government and "on budget" grants . Funding of research conducted by AHURI researchers but allocated as grants to those initiating researchers through their universities (e.g. ARC grants) amounted to $740,000; this has been generated "off budget" as a result of the synergies created through the AHURI structure. Thus, the $546,256 core Commonwealth/State/Territory funding leverages $8.63 for every $1 - a remarkably productive use of government funds.
Finally, the AHURI Legal Agreement provides a mechanism for additional institutions to join the consortium. The University of Adelaide has applied to do so, and is likely to be added in 1997. Eventually AHURI hopes to add partners in other states to form an a comprehensive national network.
Transferability of the AHURI Model
The AHURI model has important advantages for facilitating the development of a national research institute which focuses predominantly on applied research of national significance. The involvement of the Commonwealth and all the State and Territory Governments in providing base funding, plus strong commitment from a consortium of research institutions, provides a sound basis for the development of a supportive research infrastructure for the leverage of substantial additional funding, including competitive grants schemes where the consortium mobilises experienced researchers with strong track records to develop high quality research initiatives. In addition, such a model provides a supportive culture for postgraduate research student education and training, ensuring adequate infrastructure support.
There are many potential areas - for example, in transportation, tourism, rural development, health, education, law, business, public administration - where a national institute model involving across-the-board government participation and support, might be relevant.
While the AHURI model involves challenging administrative and management coordination issues, these are relatively minor, compared to the research returns generated.
In many fields of research, Australia has in aggregate a relatively small number of top quality researchers, and often they are distributed across various institutions without critical mass in any one place. The AHURI story provides a successful model to overcome dispersal by developing a networked-cross-multi-institutional framework, with an over-advisory Board of Management providing a coherent strategic focus and accountability mechanism.
We strongly recommend that the West Committee consider the advantages of the AHURI model when determining future directions for collaborative research in the higher education sector.
Further information on AHURI's structure and performance is available on request.