Resourcing the University’s Research Mission

1. Resourcing the University’s Research Mission Robyn Owens With help from Ian Baker, Rob McCormack and Campbell Thomson May 2007

2. Overview • Outline the Federal support framework to universities for research and research training • Outline the University budget model • Summarize the differences and emphasize a systems approach

3. The National Framework The Federal Govt funds universities through • Domestic load • The Research Training Scheme (RTS) • The Institutional Grants Scheme (IGS) • Research Infrastructure Block Grants (RIBG)

4. RTS Calculation • In any year, each university’s relative RTS performance index is computed: • HDR student completions are weighted at 50%; • Research income is weighted at 40%; and • Research publications are weighted at 10%.

5. RTS Calculation • Completions data are collected through the Higher Education Student Data Collection and are weighted by course level and field of study: • (a) Low cost: high cost completions are weighted at 1:2.35 • (b) Doctorate degrees by research: Master degrees by research are weighted 2:1. UWA uses different weights

6. RTS Calculation • Research income is collected in four categories under the HERDC: • Category 1: Australian Competitive Grants Income • Category 2: Other Public Sector Research Income • Category 3: Industry and Other Research Income • Category 4: Cooperative Research Centres Research Income and is unweighted.

7. RTS Calculation • Publications are collected in four categories under the HERDC: • Books; • Book chapters; • Journal articles; • Conference papers, with books weighted by a factor of 5 and the other three categories weighted by a factor of 1. UWA collects more and has different weights.

8. IGS IGS performance index: • Research income is weighted at 60%; • Student load is weighted at 30%; and • Research publications are weighted at 10%

9. RIBG • DEST determines each HEP’s RIBG grant amount on the basis of each HEP’s percentage share of Category 1 Australian Competitive Grants Income over the most recent two years for which data are available.

10. Govt. 2006-07 investment RTS $573.9M IGS $302.0M RIBG $203.9M APAs $ 95.3M IPRSs $ 18.3M For comparison: CSIRO $607.2M ARC $585.2M Data from DEST

11. 2005 enrolments

12. 2005

13. UWA budget 07 Income (general purpose) $290.9M Domestic coursework 90.1 HECS+ 66.1 RTS 30.5 IGS 16.9 RIBG 14.6 International student fees 36.6 (4.2HDR) Other (investment, student fees, etc) 35.2 Income (specific purpose)$282.3M TOTAL $573.2M

14. Our share

15. General Purpose distribution 07

16. General Purpose Distribution 07 The rest of the general purpose funding goes to • Discretionary funds $ 9.5M • Capital funds $18.7M • Facilities $35.7M • Community Activities $ 2.4M • Domestic fees $13.0M • Academic Services $ 2.0M • Other $ 2.6M

17. The T&R budget • Total = $150.9M • T&R support = $14.9M (mostly central research allocation, undergrad schols etc) • Available to Faculties = $135.9M This $135.9M is made up of: • Domestic Coursework = $73.16M = 62.5% • Research & HDR = $43.97M = 37.5% plus • International student fees = $17.83M • Financial assistance = $1M

18. Teaching Domestic EFTSL Student load weighted by course type and discipline – there are 6 different FOE weights FoE weights: 1.00 Business – 2.50 Medicine Assuming standard 48pt year: 100 Business students in 1 unit = $55,000 100 Chemistry students in 1 unit = $110,000

19. Teaching • International onshore EFTSL Assume a standard 48 point course and 2007 Business fee of $20,000 with faculty percentage of fee = 54.4% 100 Business students in 1 unit = $136,000 Assume a standard 48 point course with 2007 fee = $23,500 and faculty percentage = 53.4% because Science students pay a larger capital component than Business students 100 Chemistry students in 1 unit = $156,900

20. R&RT budget ($43.97M) • Input:Output is divided 50:50 • Input ($21.98M) is based on • Research Income (60%) and • HDR load (40%) • Output ($21.98M) is based on • HDR Completions (58.431%), • Publications (38.954%), • Staff Distinction (2.615%)

21. HDR load • At UWA from 2007 we have Low (1) and High (2) cost discipline areas • Low = Business, Law, Education, Humanities, Social Sciences, Maths, Computing, Music, Languages etc • High = Engineering, Science, Behavioural Science, Agriculture, Medicine, Dentistry, Human Movement

22. $ per EFTSL in 2007 • 4 years PhD, 2 years Masters • Low = $4,263 • High = $8,526

23. Completions in 2007 • $ per annum over 3 years • PhD • High = $18,980 • Low = $9,490 • Masters • High = $9,490 • Low = $4,745

24. Publications • $ per WOU per annum over 3 years = $1,584

25. Grants • Value of $100,000 Category 1 grant to the Faculties is $15,400 per annum over 2 years

26. Example • For a student who commences a PhD in 2007, who finishes after exactly 4 years, and who publishes 2 single-authored journal papers in that time, funding would flow to the Faculty as follows (assume static dollars throughout):

27. Low cost

28. High cost

29. In summary Income is generated by • Domestic teaching • International teaching • Research supervision • Thesis completions • Publication, and • Grant winning

30. In summary UWA distributes income in different proportions from the way it is generated. • More for publications • More for HDR load and completion • More for International HDR • Less for grant winning

31. In summary • On average, academic activity needs to generate about twice the academic salary level to run the University.

32. Example

33. Questions?