No place like home for Australian research

CAPA President, Benjamin McKay, today applauded the ALP's pledge to create 300 new three-year fellowships for newly graduated PhDs.

"These fellowships will provide much-needed opportunities for talented Australian research graduates to establish research careers here at home," commented Mr McKay.

Lack of support for early career researchers has forced pioneering research graduates to seek employment overseas.

"Australian research graduates are currently undertaking ground-breaking research at universities in the USA, the UK and Canada. The ALP's fellowships will help to employ those research skills for the benefit of the Australian community," said Mr McKay.

"I am confident that Minister Nelson's goal of a world-class Australian higher education system could better be achieved if our world-class PhD graduates were actually able to find academic employment in Australia."

Years of inadequate university funding under the Howard Government have prevented universities from employing young academic staff, despite exponentially increasing undergraduate enrolments.

"I am heartened by Labor's recognition of the need to foster our early career researchers," said Mr McKay.

The ALP's fellowship proposal is one of many policies currently being released as part of the party's university and TAFE policy package, Aim Higher: Learning, training and better jobs for more Australians.

CAPA has also welcomed the ALP's commitment to raise the HECS repayment threshold to $35,000 and its promise to scrap Minister Nelson's proposal for real rates of interest on coursework postgraduate degree loans.