Research overhaul must be in university Accord, says Go8

Australia’s elite universities are pushing for research to be given a higher profile in the federal government’s universities Accord review.

Research must be a key part of the university Accord, say the Group of Eight universities.

Australia’s elite universities are pushing for research to be given a higher profile in the federal government’s universities Accord review, which is expected to reset the higher education funding system.

The Group of Eight, representing the research-intensive universities, wants to see major reforms of research funding, and the research system generally, as part of the Accord.

Go8 chief executive Vicki Thomson said Australia’s current research funding system, which relied heavily on tuition fees paid by international students, was unsustainable.

“This is a problem for every Australian,” Ms Thomson said.

“Research is fundamental to our prosperity and national wellbeing. Most people do not realise how much research drives higher living standards.”

Ms Thomson said research was essential to achieving the innovation and productivity gains in the Australian economy that would secure economic prosperity.

She said a bipartisan national research strategy was urgently needed to give universities certainty in research investments.

Group of Eight chief executive Vicki Thomson

The Go8 universities carry out 70 per cent of Australian university research and have an annual research budget of $7.7bn.

Currently the Accord’s panel, led by Mary O’Kane, is receiving submissions before releasing its interim report in June.

The Go8 has backed its push with a discussion paper, The Need for a National Research Strategy, that argues the innovation that flows from research plays a key role in securing Australia’s national prosperity.

Australia is far more reliant on university-based research than most developed countries, and the paper notes that the university share of national R&D effort is rising, up by 12 percentage points since 2008 to 37 per cent of total R&D expenditure in 2020.

“It is research conducted by Australian universities which is propping up the national R&D effort, whereas growth in business sector and government research activity has been weak,” the Go8 paper says.

Furthermore, the paper points out, Australia now spends 1.8 per cent of GDP on R&D, well below the OECD average of 2.7 per cent.

This compares with 2008 when Australia spent 2.25 per cent of GDP on research compared with the then OECD average of 2.24 per cent. It argues that more spending on research, as opposed to importing knowledge, is a key part of boosting Australia’s economic sovereignty.

The paper says a national research strategy should offer univers­ities secure and sustainable funding for research, support R&D collaboration with industry, boost the quality of local researchers through PhD training support and use migration policy settings to “attract and retain world-leading university researchers and educators”.