Scientists Happy But Feel Students Left Out

The Age

Tuesday January 30, 2001

PENNY FANNIN, SCIENCE REPORTER

The government's innovation package provided a good start to help scientists remain internationally competitive, but policy adjustments and incentives for students to become science teachers were also needed, leading scientists said.

Some within the science community are also concerned that only $159 million of the five-year, $2.9 billion package would be available from next year and questioned whether it would be enough to kick-start Australia's scientists.

Many parts of the funding boost were widely welcomed, particularly the doubling in funding for the Australian Research Council, an extra $227 million for the Cooperative Research Centres program and the loan scheme for 250,000 postgraduate students.

``It (the package) provides strong and appropriate incentives and increased opportunities to not only stop the so-called brain drain, but reverse it," Australian Research Council's chairwoman Vicki Sara said.

Before, the ARC's budget could only support one in every five applications received, but now they could support one in three, she said. Professor Sara said Australia now had a chance to show off its scientific capabilities.

But praise for the innovation package matched reservations.

The secretary of science policy at the Australian Academy of Science, John White, said more focus was needed on educating students in basic science.

``The $151 million for undergraduates is welcomed, of course, but ... is it enough to fix the problem of students not doing enabling sciences of physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics?"

Bill MacGillivray, the president of the Australian Council of Deans of Science, said he would have liked the package to include HECS-free scholarships for those enrolling in enabling sciences as well as incentives for students to become science teachers.

``We will be setting up a nice industry in research but we well might not have the people to go into it," Professor MacGillivray said. Also, the loss of researchers overseas might continue as the discrepancy in salary between Australian academics and their counterparts in other countries had not been tackled, he said.

© 2001 The Age

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