CAPA welcomes the Policy Review of the National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP).
CAPA is very pleased to see the main aim of the review “A renewed focus and structure for the NCGP will enable Australia to: build the next generation of world-class researchers, including Indigenous researchers”. As the peak body for HDR and postgraduate coursework students, CAPA is strongly committed to ensuring that current and future researchers are prepared adequately to achieve success for the Australian research sector. Moreover, we believe the particular emphasis on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers echoes our calls to increase funding for coursework postgraduates.
See our submission here:
Australia could be a global leader in research, yet many structural barriers lie in the way.
A relationship needs to be fostered that demonstrates the merits of research in Australia. The lay individual may not necessarily be aware of the important role research and development plays in the betterment of the community in Australia at large. These deficits in understanding permeate into the social and work communities these people are a part of, partially resulting in the diminished private investment noted in the Strategic Examination of Research and Development (SERD) discussion paper. Furthermore, this relationship needs to be two-way. The lay and business community should be more aware of the important work conducted in Australia by researchers, but researchers also should be aware of the role the private sector could play in their own work. These opportunities begin at the very beginning of a researcher’s career, where they are completing their Higher Degree by Research (HDR) and first experiencing the research community in full.
Read our Submission in Full:
In 2025, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic can still be felt on the Australian Higher Education sector. However, issues in university governance were present long before the pandemic. Now in our 5th year post the pandemic, institutions such as the new Adelaide University are discussing models of education delivery previously which do not align with the community’s traditional view of our higher education sector. Universities should be listening to student voices now more than ever.
The majority of university governing members are appointed and do not interact with the broader stakeholder community: the students. Student positions in university governance groups have frequently been described as tokenistic by the students filling those positions. Many boards use this membership as a way to inform rather than be informed by the students. The result of this approach is a top- down information delivery system where decisions are made that broadly affect student bodies without appropriately consulting those students first. Furthermore, universities currently operate under a self-regulation model where internal audits
are conducted that are reported to the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA). Critically, universities do not hold public meetings of their governing bodies, and do not hold general meetings, thereby limiting the stakeholder’s ability to appoint independent reviewers in a transparent manner.
Read our submission to the Senate Inquiry into University Governance and our submission to the Expert Council on University Governance here:
