Review of Australia's research training system

Australia's Higher Degree by Research (HDR) training system is critical to Australia's future economic strength. It provides a highly qualified research workforce, enabling research and innovation across the academic, industry, government and not-for-profit sectors, as well as contributing substantially to Australia's and the world's body of knowledge. This review has engaged widely with stakeholders, including higher education and research institutes, HDR candidates and graduates, peak bodies, industry, business groups, government agencies, experts, and not-for-profit organisations in order to deliver evidence-based findings which identify opportunities to improve Australia's HDR training system.

There was broad agreement from stakeholders that Australia's HDR training system currently performs well in the areas of academic outputs. Other strengths identified include: a rich variety of choices in pathways; flexible entry requirements with provision for academic equivalence assessment; an independent, high quality examination process; and an emphasis on high quality disciplinary research and the development of associated research skills. Nevertheless Australia's performance in the area of industry-research collaboration is amongst the lowest when measured against OECD competitor countries. This situation is extremely concerning for a nation that strives to develop a vibrant knowledge based economy. Evidence suggests that there is significant room for improvement across a range of important areas relevant to HDR training.

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