CAPA’s Federal Budget Submission for 2016/2017

Media Release: CAPA’s Federal Budget Submission for 2016

The Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) is calling on the Federal Government to invest in higher education, to ensure the continued strong growth of the higher education sector and of research in Australia.

The Australian higher education sector’s contribution to the economy and the long-term sustainability of the expenditure needs of the nation are widely accepted in industry and government. The two biggest contributions made by the higher education sector are the development of human capital as expressed by increasing overall skill levels of the working age population, by teaching and learning activities for coursework students; and the creation of new knowledge, innovative ideas, and applied solutions for industry, performed by research postgraduate students and academic staff.

These two contributions are the absolute fundamental drivers of economic growth in economies at the technology frontier, as Australia is, along with other high income, high Human Development Index nations.

The development of higher levels of human capital among the working age population is highly valued by the labour market. Those possessing a postgraduate qualification experience significantly lower unemployment rates and receive a dramatic wage premium over bachelor’s degree graduates[1]. These higher wages return to federal and state budgets in the form of higher income and payroll tax receipts.

The volume and quality of the Australian higher education sector’s research output ranks in the top ten OECD countries[2], despite having the second lowest public expenditures on higher education in the OECD at a mere 0.7% of GDP[3]. Research students contribute to the majority of Australia’s research output in human resource terms at 57%[4]. Expanding support for research students will benefit Australia through higher human capital formation and greater R&D capabilities within the higher education sector.

CAPA’s recommendations for the Federal Budget are:

1. Extending income support through the Youth Allowance, Austudy and Abstudy programs to all domestic students regardless of course of study, costing 186 million dollars over 4 years.
2. Supporting Higher Degree by Research (HDR) candidates to successful completion and transition to the labour force with the stability and security to innovate, at a cost of 100 million dollars over 4 years.
3. Ensuring that a fair level of income derived by universities from teaching activities is spent on teaching and learning.

The full CAPA pre-budget submission can be found here.