2 Vision and principles for reform

A vision for Australian university research

2.1 The Government appreciates that the return on investment from research is long-term. The social and technological progress of humanity is underpinned by the discovery and dissemination of knowledge, critical scrutiny of argument and evidence, creative design, clever application and an entrepreneurial culture. A vigorous research base makes an essential contribution to a democratic, learning society.

2.2 A key purpose of the Government's reforms to higher education research and research training is to ensure that Australia stays with the pace of global change in the generation and application of knowledge. Our researchers must be demonstrably world class and we wish to see Australian researchers active in and at the leading edge of the international exchange in knowledge. Our reforms will ensure that universities will continue to be places where discovery and creativity are fostered and encouraged, and places where ideas are discussed freely and critically in a spirit of openness and tolerance. Australian and overseas enterprises will seek to locate their research and development investments in Australia.

2.3 Students will have wider choice of quality research training environments. Our young researchers will be highly skilled, adaptable and entrepreneurial. Our research graduates will also be sought after for their abilities to operate anywhere in the world at standards consistent with best practice. Australia's research training environments will attract quality international students.

2.4 Our research and research training system will be rich through the breadth and diversity of its specialisations. Our research institutions will be strategically focussed, more self-reliant and flexibly organised. We will see dynamic and extensive collaboration of researchers across disciplines, institutions and regional borders. Our universities will pursue diverse missions. Some universities will focus on achieving international excellence across a wide range of fields. Others will focus on excellence in niche areas—e.g. in serving the needs of their regions.

2.5 Our institutions will be able to respond quickly to new ideas and research opportunities. By being alert to emerging opportunities, more entrepreneurial in their own organisation and more responsive to business needs, institutions will attract more private investment. Their ability to develop new ideas and move quickly to apply them will create a reinforcing cycle of opportunities, investment and rewards which can be shared by individual researchers and research teams.

2.6 Institutions will have an operating environment that allows researchers to move easily between various settings, in collaborating across fields, organisations, industries and countries. Institutions will be able to quickly pull together teams from a variety of settings to address new issues and opportunities. They will take advantage of specialist knowledge regardless of whether it exists within the institution or in a commercial setting. Their internal structure and employment arrangements will support this sort of flexibility. Institutions will then have scope to access revenue streams, royalty benefits, or equity shares for themselves and their researchers.

2.7 Our young researchers and our researchers-in-training will see worthwhile existing opportunities for themselves to make a contribution. They will be nurtured in an environment which provides relevant experience, delivers high quality learning and values creativity and talent.

2.8 Public funding for research will reflect the critical role that governments play in supporting basic research and nurturing a research culture. Public funding will encourage and support excellence across the breadth of the research enterprise, especially through the competitive allocation of grants for individual investigator-initiated projects on the basis of peer review and through mechanisms which encourage and support collaboration when necessary.

Principles for reform

2.9 The reforms to the framework for funding university research which the Government is proposing in this paper will be guided by a number of important principles which will give effect to the Government's vision. These are, in summary:

• Excellence

Arrangements for allocating public funds should focus on the achievement of world class research and research training to ensure that Australia develops and maintains high quality and innovative research which is respected in a global context. Flexible and responsive programmes should support the varied needs and opportunities of research. Institutions should be encouraged to concentrate their resources so as to build a critical mass in their particular strengths, thus providing the optimal conditions for maintaining excellence over the long term. Individual researchers and research teams should have access to an environment that fosters excellent research.

• Institutional autonomy and responsiveness

Institutions should be free to determine how they function and contribute to the generation, preservation, transmission and application of knowledge, what research they conduct and how they conduct it, and whom they engage to undertake research and research training. The research base should be diverse in terms of the fields in which research is undertaken, the settings in which it takes place and the perspectives that inform its conduct. Institutions should be responsive to global market opportunities.

• Student choice

Institutions should be responsive to the varying needs, interests and circumstances of students. Students should be able to make choices about where they undertake their research training, with whom they work and obtain supervision, what research they do while training, and the ways by which they undertake their research. They should be able to make informed decisions on the basis of knowledge about the range of institutional research environments available to them.

• Linkage and collaboration

The policy framework should encourage and reward the development of an appropriately entrepreneurial culture in which researchers and the various institutions collaborate among themselves, across the world and with other players in the innovation system. Collaboration should encompass the sharing of knowledge, technique, expertise and research infrastructure and take varying forms, including cooperative projects and student and staff exchanges. Universities should have policies and structures in place to facilitate the commercialisation of discoveries. Key among these is the development of an entrepreneurial culture among researchers.

• Transparency, contestability and accountability

The processes for allocating funds for research and research training should be competitive in nature, as simple as possible to administer, and be readily intelligible to researchers, institutions, students and the wider community. All funding allocation decisions should be free from conflict of interest. The claims made by researchers and institutions regarding their performance should be open to scrutiny and verification. Taxpayers should be able to identify how public funds have been used and to what effect. The true costs of research and responsibility for meeting those costs should be apparent.

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