CAPA welcomes $1 billion commitment in Budget support for Research
The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations welcomes $1 billion in new funding to support research and development at Australian universities. We are pleased the government has listened to our concerns, making a financial commitment to support our best and brightest, before we lose them for good.
Australia owes a lot to our primed and ready research workforce. They are not only helping us get through this pandemic but will be important in securing Australia’s future during the post-pandemic economic recovery. Today’s budget commitment provides a lifeline to researchers at a time of great uncertainty facing the sector. The increase in research funding also gets us closer to the OECD average as previously we were below it.
“Covid-19 has exposed the cracks in the way research is funded and we welcome the government’s recognition of this, in the budget announcement, and hope this is the first step toward a new way of funding research and a new future for Australia”, said National President Romana Begicevic.
Graduate researchers are often the unseen backbone of the nation’s research output, contributing to over 50% of universities’ share of human resources dedicated to research. Without them Australian research would grind to a halt.
Even though there are demonstrated economic benefits to investing in research, graduate research students don’t feel so lucky. Only 40% start their research with a stipend scholarship and even more have been financially and materially impacted by this pandemic.
“Graduate researchers are facing an existential crisis and CAPA expects that universities will use some of this money to support their graduate researcher students. Particularly those who are not currently stipend scholarship holders, have lost sessional teaching hours, and those who need extensions as a result of coronavirus disruptions”, said Ms Begicevic.
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For comment:
CAPA National President Romana Begicevic
M: 0420 258 404
