KEY POINTS
- The Australian Government is proposing to introduce a new system of mission-based compacts with universities to cover education, research and research training, community outreach, and industry collaboration and innovation-related activities.
- No decision has been made by the Australian Government about the future funding arrangements for compacts, or for any specific component of the compacts.
- The Australian Government expects that mission-based compacts will be negotiated with each university during 2009 and be implemented from 2010.
- The Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (DIISR) and the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) are working jointly on the development of possible approaches to mission-based compacts. Both Departments are monitoring progress with and outcomes of the Review of Australian Higher Education, currently under way. This review will provide additional details relevant to the development of models for compacts.
- The Australian Government intends to consult widely on the details of the mission-based compacts.
- Mission-based compacts aim to strengthen institutional autonomy, encourage universities to be more responsive to the economic and social needs of their communities and boost the quality and international competitiveness of Australia’s university sector.
- The compacts will allow each university to shape its own research agenda, consistent with the mission it negotiates for itself in accordance with national innovation priorities and local and institutional priorities.
- The Australian Government expects universities to determine the priority they give to each area of activity, to define their own goals, and to devise their own strategies for meeting those goals. The Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) may also have an influence in the setting of priorities by determining where research excellence occurs.
- Mission-based compacts will then be negotiated with universities in 2009 and implemented from 2010. The mission-based compacts will be negotiated with all universities in receipt of Australian Government funding and will reflect each university’s needs, priorities and strengths.
- The Australian Government also intends, through the mission-based compacts, to encourage university researchers to organise themselves, where appropriate, into hubs and spokes arrangements for research collaboration. This will provide maximum value for public research funding and strengthen the national capacity for research and innovation by enhancing access to research infrastructure, collaboration and knowledge dissemination within both the research and research user communities.
- Hubs and spokes arrangements will provide a national focus for a research activity, linking researchers in various locations with colleagues and resources. Individual departments and research centres within universities will be research hubs. A department in a regional university may provide a hub for one research activity and a department in a metropolitan university may provide the hub for another.
- Hubs and spokes arrangements will be driven from the bottom up by universities working in partnership with each other and other research organisations. The Australian Government may propose additional arrangements should there be gaps in areas of national significance. ERA may also assist the Australian Government to identify hubs and spokes arrangements that produce quality research.
- The Department is also undertaking a research project to examine the full cost of university research. Outcomes from this project, due for completion in September 2008, will be a useful input to negotiations on mission-based compacts as well as contribute to ongoing efforts to measure university research costs accurately.
FACTS AND FIGURES
No decision has been made by the Australian Government about the future funding arrangements for compacts, or for any specific component of the mission-based compacts.