Australia’s universities create, preserve & transmit knowledge

Australia's universities create, preserve and transmit knowledge.

They educate undergraduates and postgraduates, undertake research and scholarship, and provide expert advice and comment on issues of national and international importance to the sector. They are closely involved with their local and wider communities.

Diversity and autonomy are central features of Australian universities. Each university has the freedom to specify its own mission and purpose, modes of teaching and research, constitution of the student body and the range and content of educational programs.

The wide variety of needs and expectations from employers and students is reflected in the range of institutional goals and objectives, staff profiles and the emphasis placed on particular courses. This plurality of approach is one of the most important strengths of the Australian system, and one hard fought for in legislative changes in late 2003.

University education in Australia enjoys a high international reputation. Australian universities are part of a clearly recognised international community of scholarship, with academic staff recruited internationally, and students also increasingly coming from overseas as well as from across Australia. At the same time there are increasing numbers of Australian students and staff on study and work exchanges overseas.

Universities have led Australia in engaging with the global world we live and work in. The continued internationalisation or our universities, through our courses, our research and provision of student movement is critical to the development of the sector.

Australian universities will continue to have a central role in the decades ahead in ensuring Australia's future economic prosperity and sustaining its international reputation as a highly educated, innovative nation.

The Legislative Framework

Apart from the Australian National University, which is constituted under an Act of the Federal Parliament, all of Australia's universities are established or recognised under State or Territory legislation.

The Federal Government has principal responsibility for public funding of the 37 public universities, although universities are increasingly seeking funds from the wider community, in part as a result of the Government's stated intention to alter the public-private funding mix for universities.

The formal governing body of each Australian university is the Council, Senate or Board of Governors, presided over by a Chancellor elected by the members of the governing body. Members are drawn from government, industry, the community, academic staff, graduates and students.

The chief executive authority rests with the Vice-Chancellor (increasingly also called the President), who is accountable to the Council, Senate or Board of Governors and is responsible for the academic and administrative operation of the institution.

The Policy and Funding Framework from 2005

The period of significant government review of Australia's higher education sector - and of the nation's research and innovation capacity and capability - from the late 1990s to early this century has resulted in major policy, funding and structural changes for the university sector.

The Government's research and innovation packages - Backing Australia's Ability I (2001-05) and Backing Australia's Ability II (2005-11) provide approximately $8 billion in Federal Government funding over ten years towards the promotion of science and innovation, the commercialisation of research, and the advancement of Australia as a knowledge economy. BAA I and BAA II have encouraged the establishment of world-class research centres in areas of national economic significance; identified and allocated funding towards national research priorities; enhanced linkages between universities, business and industry; and led to additional competitive research funding through the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Our Universities: Backing Australia's Future (2003) (BAF) sets out the Government's blueprint for major higher education reform encompassing teaching and learning, workplace relations, governance, student financing, research, cross sectoral collaboration and quality matters.

The BAF package has provided an initial additional government investment of approximately $1.5 billion over four years from 2004. The underpinning legislation - the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (HESA) - and subsequent HESA amendments and associated guidelines include the following major funding elements:

• The Commonwealth Grant Scheme (CGS) provides to each university a fixed amount per discipline towards the cost of an agreed number of Commonwealth-supported student places each year.

  Additional CGS funding (2.5% in 2005, 5% in 2006 and 7.5% in 2007) is contingent upon a university's adherence to the National Higher Education Governance Protocols and compliance with the Higher Education Workplace Relations Requirements.

• Additional Commonwealth supported places have been created for national priority areas from 2004 in nursing, education and medicine. From 2007, 1,400 new places a year are being provided to meet anticipated population growth.
• The Student Learning Entitlement (SLE) allows Australian citizens, New Zealand citizens, and holders of Australian permanent visas to access Commonwealth-supported places for an initial seven years of equivalent full-time study with additional entitlements for longer courses.
• Student contributions for government places are set by individual universities, from $0 up to a specified maximum amount set out in legislation. The new funding framework means there may be differential government and student contributions for different disciplines among universities.
• There is increased capacity for universities to enrol full fee paying undergraduate domestic students - to a maximum of 35% of students per course, only after all Government-supported places are filled.
• The Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP) has three elements: HECS-HELP, through which students in Commonwealth supported places can pay their student contribution; FEE-HELP, for eligible full fee paying domestic students at public and eligible private higher education institutions; and OS-HELP, for Commonwealth-supported students to study abroad for one or two semesters of their degree program.
• The Commonwealth Learning Scholarships Programme includes:
  • the Commonwealth Education Costs Scholarships (CECS) and the Commonwealth Accommodation Scholarships (CAS), both of which are merit-based, non-repayable and targetted at students from low income backgrounds, rural and regional areas, and Indigenous students;
  • the new Endeavour Programme which provides merit-based international scholarships for students from other countries to study in Australia and for Australian language teachers to undertake short-term awards in relevant countries; and
  • the Australian Postgraduate Awards (APA) Scheme which has been augmented with additional merit-based scholarships for Australian postgraduate scholarships from 2004.
• Learning and teaching initiatives include the Learning and Teaching Performance Fund; additional Australian Awards for University Teaching; the establishment of the National Institute for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education; and seed funding for four International Centres of Excellence.
• Equity-focussed initiatives include increased funding for the Indigenous Support Fund; Indigenous Staff Scholarships; establishment of the Indigenous Higher Education Advisory Council; increased support for the Higher Education Equity Programme; and additional support for students with disabilities.

The following graph illustrates the changes in university funding sources from 1996 to 2005 in percentage terms.

Note: "Other Sources" include investment income, consultancy and contracts, royalties, trademarks, licences, net results of associates and joint ventures, and bequests and donations.