Australian higher education research policies and performance: 1987-2010

This publication presents a critical review of the Australian higher education research policy framework and examines its influence on the research and research training performance of Australian universities. Since the establishment of the unified national system of higher education in 1988, successive governments have defined national research priorities and developed funding allocation mechanisms to ensure that Australia's universities deliver national benefits in economic, social and cultural fields. These policy initiatives are appraised. Training, funding, collaboration, innovation and commercialisation performance, intellectual property management, the costs and benefits of research and ethical policies and compliance issues are reviewed. The author assesses these research outcomes in terms of the relative performance of Australian universities, staff employment, research student enrolment trends and the international standing of universities benchmarked by rankings, and appraises future policy challenges that need to be confronted if Australian universities are to remain internationally competitive.