Higher Education and academic research

Alarmed vice-chancellors across Australia face a A$900 million (US$940 million) cut to their universities’ revenues with a further A$1.4 billion to be slashed from higher education over the next four years so that the federal government can generate some of the A$14.5 billion it plans to allocate to schools.

Professor Glyn Davis, chair of the main lobby group Universities Australia, said the cut was on top of A$1billion taken from the sector’s research budget less than six months ago through the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook process. (..) - University World News, by Geoff Maslen, 16 April 2013 Issue No:268

Australian universities have welcomed an announcement by Prime Minister Julia Gillard of a US$1 billion plan to boost jobs through industry and innovation, saying it had the potential to unleash research and innovation as the key drivers of national productivity. (...) - University World News, by Geoff Maslen, 19 February 2013, Issue No:260

CSIRO responds to review with staff training, but denies that harassment is widespread. (...) - by Stephen Pincock, Nature, 28 January 2013

 Australia’s major non-medical research funding organisation has adopted a new, open access policy that means the results of all the research it backs must be made freely available. This will require the published results to be deposited in an ‘open access institutional repository’ within 12 months of the date of publication in a journal. (...) - University World News, by Geoff Maslen, 10 January 2013, Issue No:254

Australian vice-chancellors were shocked on Monday by the federal government’s unexpected decision to slash A$1 billion (US$1 billion) from higher education spending over the next five years.

Hundreds of jobs are expected to be lost as universities revise their planned budgets with the Group of Eight research-intensive universities likely to be the most seriously affected. (...) - University World News, Geoff Maslen, 23 October 2012

But universities are hit by cuts to overheads support.

Australia’s research grants have been left untouched in mid-year spending adjustments aimed at maintaining a budget surplus. But scientists are not entirely happy with the figures announced today: over the next four years, the government has removed some A$499 million (US$515 million) from funds that help universities meet the overhead costs of research, such as equipment and infrastructure. (...) - Nature, by James Mitchell Crow, 22 October 2012

An Australian advisory panel is suggesting sweeping changes to the nation's biomedical research programs in order to better link science to health care—along with a hefty spending boost. But the recommendations, released today, come as the Australian government is reportedly considering a freeze on research grants as part of austerity plans. (...) - ScienceInsider, by David Malakoff on 3 October 2012

The Australian government is proposing to spend AUD $500 million over 4 years to establish and support up to 10 "Industry Innovation Precincts" that will create collaborations between academic, government, and industry researchers to commercialize promising discoveries. At the same time, however, the government wants to cut AUD $1billion from research and development tax breaks for large firms, a move that could hit up to 20 of the nation's biggest companies. (...)  - ScienceInsider, by Leigh Dayton, 25 February 2013

 Australia’s university students and their predecessors now owe taxpayers A$28 billion (US$29.4 billion) – a direct result of taking out government loans over the past 23 years to cover much of the cost of their tuition. A report released last Monday says that more than $6 billion of the money owed is unlikely ever to be repaid and is increasing each year. - University World News, byGeoff Maslen, 22 January 2013, Issue No:256

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA—The limbo is over for Australian researchers: Research grants are flowing once again. Over the past several rather tense weeks, the federal government froze all science grants while seeking to balance the nation's budget. But the midyear budget released on 22 October had welcome relief: AUS $1.686 billion for the Australian Research Council, the National Health and Medical Research Council, and the Cooperative Research Centres.(...) - ScienceInsider, by Elizabeth Finkel on 24 October 2012