Research key to boosting productivity
Wednesday, 12 June, 2013 - 15:38
A leading economist has warned Western Australia is falling behind other developed economies in research and development investment, threatening the state’s productivity.
Paul Johnson was the vice chancellor of The University of Western Australia and La Trobe University in Victoria. Before moving to Australia, Professor Johnson served three years as deputy director of the London School of Economics. He received his doctorate from Oxford University in 1982.
Professor Johnson has been an expert adviser on pension reform and the economics of demographic change to the World Bank, the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, the British Government and the House of Lords.
He is a director of UniSuper, the Australian higher education superannuation fund, and a member of the fund’s Investment Committee. He is also a member of the Advisory Council of the Australian Research Council.
He was elected to a Fellowship of the Royal Historical Society in 1987 and to the Academy of Social Sciences in 2001.
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A leading economist has warned Western Australia is falling behind other developed economies in research and development investment, threatening the state’s productivity.
Former federal resources minister Martin Ferguson has joined the board of trustees of the University of Western Australia's Energy and Minerals Institute.
Federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane today launched a new centre dedicated to research in the resources sector, but was coy on whether Canberra would support a similar body that Woodside has been pushing for the oil and gas sector.
The state’s public universities are bracing for a likely fall in revenue next year, with the number of eligible domestic school leavers set to fall as a result of a change to the school starting age a decade ago.
The federal budget changes to higher education have yet to go to the Senate, but WA’s universities are considering their options.
The heads of Western Australians universities have publicly warned the proposed legislative changes to higher education could reduce the level of public good universities provide and threaten more expensive fields of study such as medicine and science.
Bankwest today launched its new charity, which will raise funds for community initiatives, as well as a scholarship program that aims to better the lives of Western Australians, and has pledged $1 million per year to the charity for five years.
Independent schools across the state are benefiting from the experience some of Perth’s most prominent business leaders have brought to their boards, providing greater diversity and structure to the decision-making process.
The University of Western Australia has established a new policy research centre with the Copenhagen Consensus Centre, which is headed by international climate change contrarian Bjorn Lomborg.
The University of Western Australia has launched a new attempt to capitalise of the fruits of the fast-fading resources boom by highlighting the value of human capital that has created in fields such as engineering.
The falling dollar is attracting foreign students and bolstering fees at WA’s universities, but it’s not clear whether this will restore their once-fat surpluses.
Asset income rather than revenue from students will underwrite the future of WA’s public universities, but only if government policy catches up with the realities of higher education funding click through to see more on our universities feature.
Western Australian universities have featured prominently in an expanded research funding program announced by federal Education Minister Christopher Pyne, with three resources-related centres scoring nearly $15 million between them.
Australia’s largest ever philanthropic donation is bearing fruit, with the first five recipients of the Forrest Foundation research scholarships announced at the University of Western Australia today.
A stronger local asset management industry could be an important part of the state’s economic diversification, according to panellists at a recent Committee for Economic Development of Australia lunch.
The University of Western Australia is set to cut staff numbers by around 300 places next year in a bid to rein in costs and re-target resources to more competitive divisions.
Students across all disciplines at the University of Western Australia this year will be offered courses and internships on issues such as homelessness, mental health and chronic disadvantage.
Political leaders would do well to read a recent UWA report, which targets unsustainable expenditure and plots a prudent economic pathway.
The annual reports of WA’s four public universities reveal wide variations in their income streams and financial performance.
SPECIAL REPORT: The opening last month of a WA-backed college in China, and the visit this week by a high-powered WA delegation to Indonesia, highlight the state’s renewed focus on the multi-billion dollar international education market.
SPECIAL REPORT: The people who lead Western Australia’s universities agree the sector faces enormous change, with emerging technology and potential new entrants among the biggest challenges.
University of Western Australia vice-chancellor Paul Johnson and business school dean Phil Dolan have agreed to leave the university, which has also selected the deans of four new 'superfaculties' as part of a big structural shift to be implemented next year.
Lions Eye Institute founder Ian Constable has been recognised by the University of Western Australia which will name a new senior academic role after him.
Dawn Freshwater has been named vice-chancellor of the University of Western Australia, filling the role left vacant when Paul Johnson departed the institution last year.
The difficulties facing Australia’s tertiary education sector as a result of the COVID-19 coronavirus demonstrate a great deal about the industry and how it is struggling to cope with change.
Premier Mark McGowan’s former chief of staff has been appointed to the board of state government agency VenuesWest, just eight months after his resignation.
Position | Company | Year | Company's current rank |
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Council Chair
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2020 - 2023 | 6 | |
Warden, Director
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2017 - 2022 | 56 | |
Non-Executive Director
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2015 - 2021 | 13 | |
Council Member
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2015 - 2020 | 6 | |
Vice Chancellor
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2012 - 2016 | 1 |