2015-12-07
The Greens welcome Malcolm Turnbull's commitment to university research, but are concerned about the increased focus on industry engagement with universities in the Government's announcement.
The Government today announced its intention to consolidate all Research Block Grants into two streams and that research funding from these grants would be increasingly allocated to an industry engagement metric to be developed by the ARC.
"While increased funding to research and development in our universities is always welcome, I am concerned that an overly commercial focus could take the impetus away from other important research that may not have immediate financial returns," The Australian Greens spokesperson on Higher Education, Senator Robert Simms said.
"Our universities are much more than just the engine room of our economy.
"We need to ensure that we continue to appropriately fund curiosity-driven research that can lead to the significant breakthroughs that have the potential to fundamentally change our world."
Media contact: Cambell Klose 0417 173 508