Pro Vice Chancellor (Research) Val Alder

Universities in Australia are in a state of great flux as they try to respond to the Federal government’s research white paper and its implications for the sector.

Australia’s research has been particularly successful to date, contributing 2 percent of international publications with only 0.315 percent of the population. Along with providing the country’s intellectual capital, research builds a University’s reputation (such as the high status of Harvard and Cambridge stemming from strong research).

Undergraduates also benefit from being taught by cutting edge researchers. However only very dedicated academics can juggle increasing administration, undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and a successful research career. Such academics usually do most of their research outside the “normal” working week.

Australia is almost the only western nation where the government, allied industry and altruistic benefactors are not pouring money into research, development and commercialisation. Without this, Australia is slipping backwards in the international arena. This is leading to a significant brain drain of young and middle-aged researchers from Australia. We are already seeing diminishing contributions to international research journals, continual loss of intellectual property to overseas countries and industries, and a failure to commercialise new innovations.

There is no doubt that the previous expansion of universities led to a great deal of ‘fat’ in the system, and ‘ivory tower’ reputations were deserved. This is why Australian governments use so few university academics as advisors, compared to the United States where universities are seen as important consultative bodies for government and industry.

Many companies now out-source their research and development programs to universities. Indeed increased funding for university-based research in the United States was achieved by industry lobbying. They recognised how crucial universities are for generating the new intellectual capital required for commercialisation.

The Federal Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA) has responded to the ivory tower perception with incentives to make universities leaner. DETYA will make funding dependent on performance rather than just student load, trying to encourage community and industry interaction. Such connections are also encouraged through programs such as the Cooperative Research Centres.

Consequently, university culture is increasingly outward focused towards industry, business and community needs. Wealthy universities or those flexible enough to adapt quickly are leading the way. This dynamic climate creates tension between university management and academics used to a more collegial approach to decision making.

DETYA’s new funding model, taking effect in 2002, redistributes research funding and student numbers without any net increase. The unwritten political agenda will create a two-tiered university system with research intensive and almost undergraduate universities. Without significant access to other discretionary funding many universities will be squeezed until they cannot compete internationally.

In addition, DETYA encourages universities to direct their resources into internationally competitive research groups, and collaborate with other institutions, business and the public sectors both in Australia and internationally. This is probably a wise strategic approach for small country like Australia, but threatens creative basic research.

Universities are keen to embrace the business and industry sector and are learning how to deal with their different needs and time demands. But there are few incentives for industry to engage with Australian universities. The newly released Science Capability Review and the outcomes from the Innovation Summit (both chaired by Robin Batterham) emphasise this point. Business, industry and universities must work together if we are to remain a western-type civilisation.

More information provided at:

http://www.deet.gov.au/highered/whitepaper/default.asp
http://www.isr.gov.au/science/review/