Thumbs up for the ALP's research and innovation package

'Enterprise Australia', the ALP's new science and innovation policy package, received a big thumbs up from the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations today - though more detail is still needed.

"The ALP have done what Minister Nelson has been too scared to do - dump the Research Training Scheme and other messy funding measures and start afresh," said CAPA President Stephen Horton today.

"We are particularly pleased that the ALP have promised to put a decent postgraduate research scholarship scheme in place," continued Mr Horton. "The ALP would provide an extra 450 scholarships a year, a 30% increase over current arrangements. In total that would allow 2000 new research students each year to take up a place knowing they'll be able to pay the rent while they get their research done.

"Perhaps the most significant change for many postgraduates under Labor's new scheme is that PhD scholarships would actually cover the student's full candidature. Currently, scholarships end after three years, whereas the PhD is federally funded for four. That means that students lose their income at the crucial final stages of their research. Many students drop out altogether because of this anomaly, while others find full time work and can take many extra years to finally finish their research. It has been heartbreaking for students, and the ALP have promised to put an end to the problem.

"The ALP's commitment to rebuilding crumbling infrastructure and renewing library resources is also very welcome. The Howard government has stripped about five billion dollars from our universities since coming to power, and you can really see it on the campuses - the run-down equipment, and under stocked libraries. It is amazing that this government spends more on private primary and secondary schools than it does on our supposedly public universities," said Mr Horton. "Universities are crying out for the funding to do their jobs properly, for libraries, and teaching staff, and more study space."

"The ALP is showing true innovation in their approach to higher education, and a real commitment to solving the problems sown by eight years of apathy from the current government."

"It's promising to see one of the major parties taking the issues affecting postgraduate research seriously."

However Mr Horton had some cautionary words as well: "For example we need to know more about the proposed research student merit ranking system. It might be a great idea - but we really need to be consulted as it's developed to ensure it is the best way to help postgraduates into the study area they should be in," concluded Mr Horton.