Resourcing the University’s Research Mission

Robyn OwensWith help from Ian Baker, Rob McCormack and

Campbell Thomson

May 2007

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

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)

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%.

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

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.

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.

IGS

IGS performance index:• Research income is weighted at

60%;• Student load is weighted at 30%;

and

• Research publications are weighted at 10%

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.

Govt. 2006-07 investment

RTS $573.9MIGS $302.0MRIBG $203.9MAPAs $ 95.3MIPRSs $ 18.3M

For comparison:CSIRO $607.2MARC $585.2M

Data from DEST

2005 enrolments

Doct Mast Total % All

USyd 3025 755 3780 8% 45630

UNSW 2355 590 2945 8% 39183

UMelb 3380 988 4368 10% 41827

Mon 2437 762 3199 6% 54950

UQ 3034 547 3581 10% 37177

UWA 1591 363 1954 11% 17082

Adel 1546 233 1779 9% 18943

ANU 1977 123 2100 15% 14,317

2005

Doct Mast Total % All

Curtin 1414 266 1680 4% 38506

ECU 397 158 555 2% 23585

Murd 693 148 841 6% 13201

UND 36 16 52 1% 4787

UWA 1591 363 1954 11% 17082

UWA budget 07

Income (general purpose) $290.9MDomestic coursework 90.1HECS+ 66.1RTS 30.5IGS 16.9RIBG 14.6International student fees 36.6 (4.2HDR)

Other (investment, student fees, etc) 35.2Income (specific purpose) $282.3MTOTAL $573.2M

Our share

Total UWA % share

RTS $573.9M $30.5M 5.3%

IGS $302.0M $16.9M 5.6%

RIBG $203.9M $14.6M 7.2%

General Purpose distribution 07

Teaching and Research

$150.9M 73%

Academic Services(Library, CentralAdmin)

$55.8M 27%

Total $206.7M 100%

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

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

Teaching

Domestic EFTSLStudent load weighted by course type and discipline – there are 6 different FOE weightsFoE weights: 1.00 Business – 2.50 Medicine

Assuming standard 48pt year:100 Business students in 1 unit = $55,000100 Chemistry students in 1 unit = $110,000

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

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%)

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

$ per EFTSL in 2007

• 4 years PhD, 2 years Masters

• Low = $4,263

• High = $8,526

Completions in 2007

• $ per annum over 3 years• PhD

– High = $18,980– Low = $9,490

• Masters– High = $9,490– Low = $4,745

Publications

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

Grants

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

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):

Low cost  EFTSL

Counted$ per EFTSL

fundsPublication $ Completion $ Total $

2007         $0

2008 1.000 $4,263     $4,263

2009 1.000 $4,263     $4,263

2010 1.000 $4,263 $1,584   $5,847

2011 1.000 $4,263 $3,168   $7,431

2012     $3,168 $9,490 $12,658

2013     $1,584 $9,490 $11,074

2014       $9,490 $9,490

Total 4.000 $17,052 $9,504 $28,470 $55,026

High costEFTSL

Counted$ per

EFTSL funds

Publication $ Completion $ Total $

2007         $0

2008 1.000 $8,526      $8,526

2009 1.000 $8,526     $8,526

2010 1.000 $8,526 $1,584   $10,110

2011 1.000 $8,526 $3,168   $11,694

2012     $3,168 $18,980 $22,148

2013     $1,584 $18,980 $20,564

2014       $18,980 $18,980

Total 4.000 $34,104 $9,504 $56,940 $100,548

In summary

Income is generated by

• Domestic teaching

• International teaching

• Research supervision

• Thesis completions

• Publication, and

• Grant winning

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

In summary

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

Example

100 domestic H $110,000

100 domestic H $110,000

1 HDR load $ 8,500

1 HDR completion $ 18,980

2 publications $ 3,168

$100k grant $ 15,400

TOTAL $270,000

Questions?