Science Minister Announces Distribution of $1.42 Billion for Higher Education Research. (January 20, 2009)

Federal Senator Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research today announced that Australian universities will receive federal funding for research and research training totalling $1.42 billion in 2010. It is to be shared by Australia's 41 universities.

According to the media release $794 million will be allocated as:

• $610 million for the Research Training Scheme, which meets the cost of tuition for students completing PhDs and Masters degrees by research;

• $164 million for 3,069 Australian Postgraduate Awards to support exceptional research students; and

• $20 million for the International Postgraduate Research Scheme, which is designed to attract the brightest research students from overseas.

The minister noted that funding would be made available for:

• around 500 extra Australian Postgraduate Awards for outstanding students;
• a 10 per cent increase in the Australian Postgraduate Award stipend to $22,500 a year; and
• an extra $85 million to meet the indirect costs of research under the new Sustainable Research Excellence program, which he said will eventually be worth $300 million a year.

The second largest allocation, $321 million, is to fund Joint Research Engagement "to encourage greater
collaboration between universities and the business and non-government research sectors".

Following is a listing of the research block grants:

JRE = Joint Research Engagement

SRE = Sustainable Research Excellence

RIBG = Research Infrastructure Block Grants Scheme

RTS = Research Training Scheme

CTS = Commercialisation Training Scheme

APA = The Australian Postgraduate Awards

IPRS = International Postgraduate Research Scholarships

Additional  information is available through the Research Block Grants Website: