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This paper examines time series data on Commonwealth Government funding for universities from 1996 to 2010. It draws on annual and triennial higher education funding reports released by DIISRTE's predecessors, research income data, Science, Research and Innovation Budget Tables and annual "Higher Education Finance Statistics." The paper examines recurrent grants, research funding and capital funding over time in both nominal and real terms, and presents figures for aggregate funding and average funding per Commonwealth-supported EFTSL. Over the period covered, there were major changes in university funding. As a result, there is little consistency in funding programs or in reporting and data definitions over the years. Time series constructed for this paper represent the best available estimate of broad funding aggregates according to consistent definitions. Data sources and definitions are appended. (Contains 16 figures and 5 footnotes.)

Go8 universities account for over two-thirds of the research undertaken at Australian universities. Go8 universities attract the highest levels of industry and competitive government grant funding for research. This paper presents an analysis of trends in research performance for Go8 and non-Go8 universities including research income as reported by institutions to the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science, Research and Tertiary Education (DIISRTE) as part of the Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC) and the DIISRTE Research Block Grant Allocations as well as ERA outcomes and commercialisation data from the National Survey of Research Commercialisation. This analysis shows clearly that while the absolute amount of higher education research funding has grown significantly, the relative shares of research income (as reported in the Higher Education Research Data Collection) and research block grant funding of the major university groupings in Australia has been largely unchanged over the period 1992 to 2010 and 2002 to 2012 respectively with most redistribution of shares occurring between non-Go8 institutions. The National Survey of Research Commercialisation showed that in 2009 Go8 universities dominated in the number of invention disclosures and active licensing agreements as well as in licensing income and the number of patents issued. Based on the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) 2010 outcomes, research of the highest quality (ie research well above world average and rated 5) is predominately undertaken at Go8 universities. Government policy should focus on selectivity and concentration of the higher education research effort with the aim of ensuring that funds flow to the best research wherever it may be and that Australia's research universities can sustain international research excellence. (Contains 18 figures.)

This paper produces two sets of estimates of future student demand for higher education in Australia. The two sets of estimates allow Go8 to consider the capacity of the university sector to accommodate future growth in student numbers (including staff and facilities), and to identify the costs involved, including for the Government which has undertaken to fund student demand at the undergraduate level and postgraduate coursework level for programs leading to a first professional qualification. The first projection method, "Method A," uses Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) data on university and FEE-HELP approved Higher Education Provider (HEP) enrolments (student numbers) by age and level of study. Method A is a conservative approach in that it counts only university and HEP enrolments, not broader tertiary education participation. The second approach to estimating future student demand, "Method B," uses Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) estimates of participation in education and training through its annual survey of "Education and Work." Method B is more expansionary than Method A in that it captures participants across the range of education and training institutions, public and private, funded and unfunded. It also includes those international students who were resident in Australia for 12 months or more. Attached are: (1) The choice of "Series A"; (2) Estimating Method A: data; (3) Estimating Method B: data sets; (4) Projected enrolment growth by qualification: Access Economics; and (5) Projected increase in 16-19 year olds under ABS "Series A" population growth. (Contains 6 figures, 15 tables, and 13 footnotes.) [This is an updated version of "Go8 Backgrounder 10" previously released in June 2010. A number of amendments have been made due to errors found in the base participation rates used in the modelling for Method B. The key findings have not significantly altered.]