RESEARCH
POLICY & LOBBYING
Gutting of innovation & research could cripple Australia's post-COVID recovery Universities perform approximately 43% of all applied research in Australia, making them the largest single research sector. However, with higher education in crisis due to COVID-19, this research sector has been hit particularly hard, in both losses of research jobs and research capacity. The Morrison Government’s actions to date have not only failed to assist the sector as it faces a multi-billion dollar deficit, mass job losses, the discontinuation of courses, campus closures and research shut-downs; it has actually made the situation far worse.
Terri MacDonald Policy & Research Officer
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Despite early warnings that 21,000 full time equivalent (FTE) higher education positions could be lost as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, the Government – on three separate occasions – shifted the goalposts to keep public universities out of JobKeeper. Unfortunately, the Union’s predictions of mass loss jobs across higher education look to be on target, and will continue over the next 6–12 months, at least.
Sentry
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AUGUST 2020
While all sector job losses are distressing, the loss of research positions will directly impact our capacity for a post-COVID recovery that is led by innovation and research. It will also result in a ‘brain drain’ through the loss of research talent to overseas, or as people leave the research sector. This talent cannot be easily replaced, particularly in our STEM and health/medical research areas. The Rapid Research Information Forum report to the Federal Government (May 2020) stated that at least 7,000 research jobs are at risk in the sector because of COVID-19. It also noted that some 9,000 international research students were at risk of not being able to return to their studies. Also impacted are the thousands of domestic research students whose studies have been interrupted or threatened by campus lockdowns and disruption to lab access, collaborative networks and supervision, not to mention the withdrawal of research funding by cash strapped universities. While all our researchers are vital for our current research capacity, we rely also on new research students to come through and build on that capacity in the future. These
