Business View Magazine - Oceania Edition - Oct-Nov 2017

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with strong proposals that will clearly de-
liver real benefits for industry and Aus-
tralians, we can green light them quickly.
We sped up the processes for approv-
ing Linkage Projects that fund collabo-
rations between researchers and busi-
nesses and we made changes so that
grants could be made year-round so wor-
thy projects don’t need to wait months
and months until applications open
Going forward, we will have a Nation-
al Research Infrastructure Roadmap to
underpin investment decisions over the
next decade about which projects align
to the national interest and should get-
ting taxpayer support.
There’s also much to be said for the
value of our international reputation for
education. Last year more than half a
million students from over 200 coun-
tries made us the third most popular ed-
ucation destination in the world. Febru-
ary 2017 ABS figures revealed education
exports earned a record $21.8 billion
in 2016 – up 17 per cent on 2015. It
means knowledge is the nation’s third
biggest export sector. It’s why last year
we launched the National Strategy for In-
ternational Education 2025 to maintain
Australia’s role as a global leader in ed-
ucation, training and research by focus-
ing the efforts of the policymakers, busi-
nesses and education institutions with a
vested interest in the sector’s future.
I hope my contribution has given you
plenty to mull and think about in the
context of how our education system is
placed for the future. There is significant
change afoot and our guiding principle
has always been how do we secure our
strengths and advantages and exploit
the opportunities we can give for this
and future generations in the education
system.
Our reforms across the entire edu-
cation and training system—from pre-
school through vocational education and
training and higher education and post
graduate qualifications—are all geared
to meet the current and future needs of
both students and our nation.
Finally, I always appreciate feedback
and ideas so if you’d like to get in touch
or to keep across the latest news in this
space, you can find me on Facebook at
or Twitter at @birmo, or you can email me
at