If you’ve decided to take the leap and want to learn more about moving to Australia, you’ll be in good company with up to around 30,000 Britons making the move each year. And if we miss this opportunity the repercussions will not be just to the sector, but to all of Australia.Australia boasts a high quality of life, unparalleled natural beauty, and an excellent climate, making it a popular place for British expats who dream of the good life Down Under. The accord provides a window to reframe Australia’s higher education sector and lift the bar. It’s time to revisit this, to ask the hard questions and take the tough decisions. Labor has a strong track record in research and innovation and when previously in government had committed to a major root and branch review of research funding for a generation. How do we know if we are getting bang for our buck?Īs former Chief Scientist Ian Chubb has said, “Funding must be directed to universities according to their strengths, rather than being spread around to make small institutions ‘feel good’.” The federal government currently invests nearly $12 billion through 157 programs across 12 portfolios in R&D. It’s also an opportunity to consolidate research funding. The accord is an opportunity to look at genuine funding reform. We are without-peer when it comes to research effort in this country. In 2020, the Group of Eight leading universities invested $7.2 billion into research, and we receive $1 billion annually in research income from business and philanthropy – more than twice the rest of the sector combined. With finite resources, it makes sense to target spending where it delivers the greatest return and best targets national priorities. The Minister for Industry and Science Ed Husic was right when he recently said: “We need to have higher ambitions and climb up that ladder, rather than sliding down it continually … we have a lot of potential, and we have a lot of people with smart, great ideas.”Īnother of the government’s goals, to lift investment in research to 3 per cent of GDP, will be challenging. Our exports have to be much smarter or the complexity stays raw and low. Without a doubt it is absolutely fine that we are a “dig it up, ship it out” nation, but that simply cannot be all that we are. It’s an ugly statistic from a so-called clever country. Australia’s ranking of economic complexity has fallen from55 in the world in 1995 to currently 91, placing us between Namibia and Kenya. Without this, Australia will be forced to continue to rely on commodity exports for our prosperity, pushing us further and further behind a global economy in which we are already slipping. And more sophisticated know-how relies on education and knowledge production – the kind you get via graduates of high-quality, research-intensive universities. A higher level of complexity requires more sophisticated, unique know-how. For Australia, however, the reality is downright ugly.Įconomic complexity is explained in relation to the diversity and rarity of exports. The starting point should be the obvious reframing of how Australia funds research and innovation – different from how much – to ensure government and taxpayers receive the best possible value.Īt the same time is it critical to put in place policies to ensure Australia prospers into the future and that we lift our economic complexity ranking, an important goal of the new government.įor some, it is likely that economic complexity is a whole new language. The accord is intended to drive lasting and sustainable reform in an economic environment that demands tough decisions. And it is higher education and research that will shape the future of the nation more than any other sector. One of these – the Australian Universities Accord – presents an opportunity to prepare the nation for the challenges that lie ahead. The federal government also has an obligation in the upcoming budget to prioritise its election commitments. Australia’s eight most research-intensive universities are committed to being part of the economic solution by operating inside the tent, not arguing outside it.Īnd without any exaggeration we do know that an economic solution cannot be achieved without us. Rather, it is time to be part of the solution. The future is rocky and will remain so for some time as we and our competitor nations concentrate on relieving cost-of-living pressures and reducing debt.Īfter the challenges of recent years, this isn’t the time to be issuing demands or asking for handouts. Expectation management is the name of the game for October 25, and we’ve been left in no doubt that the focus will be on the increased cost of living. Later this month we’ll get a first view of the government’s economic vision when Treasurer Jim Chalmers delivers his first federal budget. Vicki Thomson – Australian Financial Review – 9 October 2022
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