Universities Australia supports the Government's decisive action today to fast track investment in university infrastructure from the returns of the Higher Education Endowment Fund (HEEF).
"Bringing forward investment in university infrastructure will help reduce the massive backlogs in Australian universities' teaching and research facilities, supporting economic activity and enhancing graduate skills, productivity and exports in the nation's interest," Universities Australia CEO Dr Glenn Withers said.
Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Senator the Hon Kim Carr jointly announced today that the total funding sought over 14 short-listed projects is $700 million, which exceeds the $304 million allocation made in the 2008-09 Budget.
"If the projects short-listed meet the funding criteria in the second stage of application, Universities Australia proposes that the Government supplement the $304 million from the HEEF using Budget surplus to cover the total amount needed for this urgent infrastructure investment," Dr Withers said.
Investing in university infrastructure represents quality national investment in the present economic climate: quick impact, economic effectiveness, social support, regional diversity, cultural strength, and an ecological `light touch'. Universities Australia believes that facilities such as laboratories and lecture theatres are as important for education, the nation's leading service export, as ports and roads are to iron ore and coal.
The HEEF will soon be subsumed into an $11 billion Education Investment Fund (EIF), and Universities Australia recommends that the first EIF funding round be brought forward to July 2009, and that the ability to draw down the capital of the fund be available, as anticipated by the Government's proposed legislation.
Universities Australia also supports the recommendation of venturousaustralia, the report of the Review of the National Innovation System, that Government should move to support the full cost of research to redress ongoing under funding of research infrastructure in universities, but without compromise to grant success rates.
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Media Inquiries Rebecca Harris - phone: (02) 6285 8106 or 0400 1666911
