Full Funding for Competitive Research Grants a Rising Issue. (December 31, 2008)

It has now been raised both by the innovation review delivered to the government by Dr Terry Cutler this past August and the higher education review chaired by Professor Denise Bradley. Both have called for the full government funding of competitive research grants.

Now The Australian National University, The University of Melbourne and The University of Sydney have made public strongly worded requests for such funding.

The Age reports that acting vice-chancellor of Melbourne University, Professor Peter McPhee, says urgent action is required to stop Australia subsidising research from teaching budgets: "What I think needs to be stressed is this affects every element of university life. The impact of not having research fully funded is larger classes … and university classes are simply too large."

The acting vice-chancellor of the Australian National University, Professor Lawrence Cram, said: "What we are looking for is full funding of the direct overheads of research; we know the Government is facing a global financial crisis and we know that universities play a key reconstruction role in recovering from the crisis."

The Government was scheduled to produce an innovation white paper by the end of this year.  According to the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Kim Carr its failure to do so, was due to late reporting by the Cutler Review, and the Government's workload.

However, according to The Age: "Sources told The Age that Innovation Minister Kim Carr was facing stiff resistance from Treasury and Finance in an interdepartmental committee working on a response to the Cutler Review of Innovation."

The question now arises whether the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, will support Senator Carr and the university research sector and in fact is the leader of the opposition, Malcolm Turnbull, prepared to buy into  the matter, or are the mantra of deficit anathema and populist pressure the engulfing considerations.