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TOO LATE – TOO SIMPLISTIC
21 December 1999

The following is a preliminary response by the Academy to the White Paper on Higher Education Research, "New Knowledge and Innovation" released on 21 December 1999.

• The strengthening of the Australian Research Council with the provision of its own Act, as well as the arrangements for its governance and operation, is a long overdue move.

• There is virtually no new money offered. The paper regrettably uses out of date figures purporting to show how generously higher education research is funded by the Government. It neglects to mention that cuts of 12% ( as a percentage of GDP) have since been applied to Australia’s university research funding (Source OECD)

• The proposal to use simplistic formulae as a surrogate quality measure to decide the allocation of large sums of money is intrinsically flawed; the Academy believes that a research assessment exercise is required, to assure due rewards for excellent outcomes.