KEY Points
- The role of the Education Investment Fund (EIF) is to build a modern, productive, internationally competitive Australian economy by supporting world leading, strategically focused infrastructure investments that will transform Australian tertiary education and research.
- The EIF subsumed the Higher Education Endowment Fund and its 2008 funding round. The EIF is jointly administered by the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) and the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (DIISR).
Background
The EIF, with the Building Australia Fund and the Health and Hospital Fund, constitute the three Nation building Funds established under the Nation-building Funds Act 2008.
The EIF Advisory Board
- The Board is jointly appointed by the Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research. The role of the Board includes:
Ensuring a rigorous and robust application of the evaluation process for the EIF funding program;
- Advising the relevant Minister in relation to making grants from the EIF; and
- Advising the Ministers on matters referred to it by the Ministers that relate to the object or operation of the EIF.
The board comprises:
- Mr Philip Clark AM (Chair)
- Professor Denise Bradley AC
- Mr Philip Bullock
- Dr Cherrell Hirst AO
- Mr John Ryan PSM
- Professor Margaret Seares AO
- Dr Michael Vertigan AC
- Ms Lisa Paul PSM, Secretary of the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations
- Mr Mark Paterson AO, Secretary of the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research.
Education Investment Fund Round 3 and the Sustainability Round
On 4 August 2009 the opening of Round 3 and the Sustainability Round of the EIF was announced. The total investment for this round is $550 million to support 19 projects, including five Sustainability Round projects which focus on teaching and research in the areas of climate change and sustainability.
EIF Round 3 supports infrastructure projects that are transformative in each of the three sectors (research, higher education and vocational education and training). There is an increased emphasis on projects that support collaborative activities across several institutions and value for money.
Of the 19 successful projects, nine are research projects being managed by DIISR:
- Retrofitting for Resilient and Sustainable Buildings at the University of Wollongong - $25.1 million;
- Australian Institute for Nanoscience at the University of Sydney - $40 million;
- Centre for Advanced Imaging and enhancement of current National Imaging Facility at the University of Queensland - $40.231 million;
- Sustainable Energy for SKA, CSIRO - $47.3 million;
- Indian Ocean Marine Research Centre at the University of Western Australia - $34 million;
- Australian Future Fibres Research Innovation Centre, at Deakin University, Geelong - $37 million;
- Green Chemical Futures at Monash University - $29.120 million:
- Australian Geophysical Observing System – AuScope Limited, based at the University of Melbourne - $23 million; and
- Newcastle Institute for Energy and Resources at the University of Newcastle - $30 million.
DEEWR is managing the four higher education and six vocational education projects to be funded through Round 3 and the Sustainability Round.
Previous Rounds
Education Investment Fund Round 1
On 12 December 2008, 11 successful EIF Round 1 projects were announced. Two of these are research projects which are being managed by DIISR:
- The Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing at the University of Adelaide – $28.8 million
- New Horizons Centre at Monash University – $89.9 million
Nine successful higher education projects were also announced. These projects are being managed by DEEWR.
Education Investment Fund Round 2
On 12 May 2009, 31 successful EIF Round 2 projects were announced.
Eight of these are research projects which are being managed by DIISR:
- Australian Institute for Innovative Materials (AIIM) at the University of Wollongong - $43.8 million
- Sydney Institute of Marine Science - $19.5 million
- The Centre of Climate Change and Energy Research at the University of Western Sydney - $40 million
- The National Centre for Synchrotron Science at the Australian Synchrotron - $36.78 million
- The Centre for Neural Engineering at the University of Melbourne - $17.515 million
- The Institute for Molecular Sciences at La Trobe University - $64.1 million
- The Smart State Medical Research Centre at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research - $55 million
- The Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies at the University of Tasmania - $45 million
Eleven successful higher education projects and 12 successful vocational education and training projects were also announced. These projects are being managed by DEEWR.