EduAsiaNews, Canberra — Australia’s research ecosystem has been assessed as “chronically underfunded”, particularly at the university level, according to a submission made by the higher education association Universities Australia (UA) to the federal government. Of the government’s total research programme expenditure of approximately A$14 billion per year, around one-third flows to the private sector through research and development (R&D) tax incentives, rather than to universities.
UA has called for government R&D spending to be raised from its current level of 0.52 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) toward the OECD average of 0.74 per cent. The gap between Australia’s position and the OECD average, UA argues, reflects a structural lag that will have serious consequences for Australia’s long-term competitiveness in science and technology.
In its recommendations, UA has also urged Australia to join the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme. The move is seen as an important strategy for diversifying research partnerships, given that an excessive focus on the AUKUS alliance with the United States and the United Kingdom risks creating over-reliance on a limited number of partners and narrowing the scope of Australia’s international scientific collaboration.
UA stressed that fundamental research, long-term inquiry without direct commercial orientation, which has traditionally been the domain of universities, is a foundation that cannot be substituted by industry-driven R&D. Without adequate investment in fundamental research, Australia risks losing its capacity to generate original breakthroughs and may become dependent on importing innovation from other nations.
UA’s concerns come against a broader backdrop: Australia faces intensifying competition from Asian nations, particularly China, South Korea, and Japan, which over the past decade have aggressively increased their research investments well beyond the OECD average. If Australia does not move swiftly to close its research funding gap, analysts warn that the country’s universities risk losing their best researchers abroad. (**)
