To build our science capability, we must re-build our universities
24 August 2001
The National Tertiary Education Union will work to boost the profile of university education and research as issues in the forthcoming Federal election, focusing particularly on the role of universities in supporting regional communities and their economies.
NTEU President Dr Carolyn Allport said that Science Meets Parliament, an annual event which brings working scientists into dialogue with Federal Parliamentarians, offered a fantastic opportunity to build politicians' awareness of the significance of these issues for their electorate.
`This is especially important in an election year, when polls are regularly showing that education and health are at the top of voters' list of concerns,' she said. `Science - and particularly the teaching and research undertaken in universities - underpins our progress in both these areas. We can't afford to neglect them. '
Dr Allport said that she was encouraged by signs that politicians were starting to take these issues seriously, although much more was needed.
`The prominence given to science in the Government's `Backing Australia's Ability' and the ALP's `Knowledge Nation' report are very welcome, as is the strong support for science education and research expressed by the Democrats and the Greens,' she said. `However, we need a long-term strategy to rebuild our science base, especially in universities which have borne the brunt of Government funding cuts.'
`The most pressing problems in the university sector arise from the fact that income is not rising fast enough to keep pace with expenditure,' she said. `We estimate that staff salary increases alone are costing universities $150m per year over and above what they receive from Government.'
`NTEU agrees with the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies that universities need a 20% increase in operating grant funding in order to restore their capacity to meet the nation's needs.'
`This is the challenge for Government - to recognise universities as essential to building our science capabilities and our future, and to fund them accordingly.'