Science & Technology Australia welcomes the announcement today that higher degree by research (HDR) students will be excluded from the National Planning Level for new international student commencements.
STA has consistently advocated for HDR students to be excluded on the basis that Australia’s current and future economy needs STEM-skilled workers.
“We congratulate Minister for Education Jason Clare, Minister for Home Affairs Tony Burke, and Senator Murray Watt on this sensible carve-out that STA has strongly advocated for. It will ensure we can continue to attract and retain the highly-skilled STEM workforce the country needs now and into the future,” said STA CEO Ryan Winn.
“We acknowledge the concerns of many in the university sector that the new National Planning Level presents a significant challenge to income and business models. We hope that this provides certainty, after many months of public debate, and the new model can be implemented in a way that safeguards our valuable public university system while meeting the Ministers’ policy aims.”
“We look forward to working with Government on the Strategic Examination of R&D Funding process to address the need to cross-subsidise university research from international student fees, and to improve overall funding to Australian-driven R&D to international benchmarks.”
Media contact: Martyn Pearce, STA: 0432 606 828
