February 2010
Universities Australia is the peak body representing Australia's 39 universities in the public interest both nationally and internationally. Universities Australia is pleased to provide a submission in response to the ARC Linkage Projects (LP) scheme Consultation Paper.
The Linkage Projects scheme is a vitally important element of Australia's competitive grants programs because it enables collaborative research and development projects to occur between universities and industry. As the ARC quite correctly outlines in the consultation paper, the scheme is directly relevant to the Australian Government's National Innovation Priority 5 which aims to encourage a culture of collaboration within the research sector and its broader industry partners.
Universities Australia has significant concerns with a number of changes proposed by the ARC to the Linkage Projects scheme. Specifically, rather than have two rounds of the LP scheme, the ARC is proposing that there will be an Australian Postgraduate Award (Industry) (APA(I)) only round closing in July, and the full Linkage Projects round which would close in November. The changes which you propose are intended to complement an evaluation of the benefits from the scheme that accrue to key stakeholders, such as higher education institutions and their researchers and partnering organisations.
To read the full submission, download the PDF below.
