Page 3340 - Week 11 - Tuesday, 22 September 2015
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Beyond the direct benefits a strong university sector provides for students and researchers, the ACT’s tertiary education sector is crucial to the long-term strength of our economy. The government recognises how central this sector is to diversifying the ACT’s economic base, away from its historic over-reliance on the federal government. While our higher education institutions may be affected by changes in commonwealth government policy, they also generate income and economic activity outside the commonwealth cycle and, as such, can help offset fluctuations in commonwealth government expenditure.
The ongoing growth and expansion of our higher education and research sectors will drive a significant amount of new development in our community. Both ANU and UC already have significant on-campus accommodation for students. ANU has also recently announced that it will be spending $53 million to deliver 500 new beds on its campus. At UC in March 2015 the Chief Minister and the vice-chancellor signed an agreement of strategic intent that underpins the UC’s strategy to grow, develop and thrive.
The agreement details how the government will work with the UC to help it expand its educational offerings, create a vibrant and exciting campus, and attract research organisations. In turn, this will help the UC become even more attractive to students and academics. The agreement is about creating jobs, whether they be in building campus developments, working for new campus-based organisations or in research and teaching. It is about creating a smart workforce with the skills, imagination and vision that our economy needs.
This government has acted in partnership with the university to pass reforms through legislation and variations to the territory plan to ensure the university continues to drive its way up the list of world-ranked universities. This vision realised will turn the UC campus into an internationally recognised health and technology hub—two of the most important fields of the 21st century. Our investment in the University of Canberra public hospital prepares for the future health service needs of this community, while teaching the next generation of health professionals including researchers.
We are achieving these goals despite the nay-saying and narrow-minded position of those opposite, who prefer a small and timid view of Canberra’s role in higher education. In contrast, the ACT government recognises that innovation and entrepreneurship are the drivers of economic growth and diversification. National and international research demonstrates that high growth companies are responsible for the majority of new job creation. That is why we established the CBR Innovation Network and why major players in the higher education and research sector became founding members of the network. These institutions recognise that to be successful in their goal of commercialising research the innovation ecosystem needs to nurture potential high-growth companies.
Since the establishment of the network we have seen a significant increase in participants in the Entry 29 co-working space, a range of excellent companies participating in the GRIFFIN accelerator program, the launch of the KILN incubator,
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video