Australia needs 3.8 million skilled graduates to stay competitive

AUSTRALIA will need 3.8 million new skilled graduates entering the economy over the next decade to compete in the rapidly transforming global economy.

University of Sydney Open Day

AUSTRALIA will need 3.8 million new skilled graduates entering the economy over the next decade to compete in the rapidly transforming global economy.

In a speech to the National Press Club today, Universities Australia chair Barney Glover will warn Australia is the only OECD country without a national research and innovation plan.

Professor Glover will seize on new research from consulting firm Deloitte showing the value of knowledge generated by university research last year was $160 billion, which is equivalent to 10 per cent of GDP and outstrips the entire value of Australia’s mining industry.

“Australia is in the early stages of a period of seismic change; change at a pace and magnitude not seen since the industrial revolution,” Professor Glover will tell the National Press Club.

“To remain competitive and indeed grow our competitive advantage, we must invest properly in research, innovation, skills and critically in research infrastructure.”

Strategy ... Universities Australia chair Barney Glover will tell the National Press Club Australia needs to invest more in tertiary education. Picture: News Corp Australia

The National Press Club address comes less than a week after the Turnbull government declared it would shelve former Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s controversial reforms to deregulate universities, so they could set their own fees.

The government is now going back to the drawing board on higher education, and Labor has indicated it plans to make university funding a central part of the next federal election campaign.

Universities Australia will today launch a campaign called Keep it Clever, emphasising the fact that public investment in Australian universities has dropped from six place to second last out of the world’s 25 advanced economies.

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Professor Glover said that with 40 per cent of existing jobs tipped to disappear within the next two decades university education will be critical to secure new industries and sources of income for Australia, as will strong links between industry and research.

“We face a stark choice. We either make this investment or we fall behind those that do,” Professor Glover said.

Australia’s Chief Scientist Ian Chubb said the calibre of universities were critical to the prospects of a nation in the 21st century.

Stark choice ... Australia's Chief Scientist Professor Ian Chubb wants an innovation strategy at the centre of government policy. Picture: News Corp Australia

“Australia too needs to look to its universities, as part of a national strategy that puts innovation at the heart of everything that our businesses and governments do,” Professor Chubb said.

“The ideas, skills and attitudes which fuel economic growth, as well as social progress, come increasingly from centres of learning and research.”