MINERALS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES HIGHER DEGREE RESEARCH STUDENTS SUPPLEMENTAL SUBMISSION TO THE REVIEW OF AUSTRALIA S RESEARCH TRAINING SYSTEM SEPTEMBER 2015
TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY... 1 INTRODUCTION... 2 PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT... 3 1. Group of Eight (Go8)... 3 2. Australian Technology Network (ATN)... 3 3. Regional University Network (RUN)... 4 4. Innovation Research Universities (IRU) and other universities... 5 KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER PARTNERSHIPS... 6 The United Kingdom model... 6 Knowledge Transfer Partnership in Australia?... 7 PhD Industry Experience Program... 7 CONCLUSION... 9 RECOMMENDATIONS... 10
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The focus of this supplementary submission to the Australian Council of Learned Academies (ACOLA) Review of Australia s Research Training System is how higher degree research training can be enhanced to produce early-career researchers who have the skills, knowledge, and experience required for a career outside of academia. This desktop review by the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) examines professional development (PD) opportunities available to higher degree research (HDR) students from universities within the four networks; the Group of Eight, the Australian Technology Network, the Regional University Network and the Innovative Research Universities. Government supported industry experience programs were also reviewed. For the purposes of this study, the professional development opportunities reviewed can be divided into research opportunities and career development opportunities. This review showed that PD programs for HDR students in Australia are generally geared towards research development and providing skills that will assist students in the successful completion of their research studies. From the information examined, professional development opportunities for HDR students across the four university networks are varied. Some universities offer a coordinated approach between their graduate school and the HDR host faculty, but more often than not, professional development opportunities are piecemeal. Information about opportunities linked to HDR programs was generally unavailable or difficult to attain. More emphasis on career professional development and an industrycoordinated approach is required. To produce early-career researchers who have the skills, knowledge, and expertise required for a career in an industry such as mining, a nationally consistent model of professional development should be employed across universities. Central to such a model would be a strong focus on career professional development including industry experience. The Knowledge Transfer Partnership is a model worthy of consideration as part of the ACOLA review of Australia s research training. The key findings of this review are: Professional development opportunities for HDR students across the four university networks vary in breadth and quality. Professional development opportunities for HDR students are predominately focused on developing research skills rather than career development. Professional (career) development focuses predominately on basic business skills such as effective communication, project management, but also research specific skills such as commercialisation of research. Professional (career) development opportunities were seldom linked to HDR programs via university websites. University contact staff (those who relay information to prospective students) were generally uninformed about professional development opportunities for HDR students. The Group of Eight appear to have a stronger focus on professional (career) development within their professional development programs than other university networks. Monash University offer the Monash Doctoral Program where students must complete coursework or 120 hours of development during their HDR program. The Australian Technology Network offer the strongest online, formalised PD program, where research students from across the network (and external) have access to an array of modules completed over a five week period. Other networks could benefit from such a collaborative approach. Minerals Council of Australia 1
INTRODUCTION The question of how industry-relevant research can be delivered to higher degree research (HDR) students is being addressed by the Australian Council of Learned Academies (ACOLA) Review of Australia s Research Training System. The Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) made a submission to the review on 31 August 2015. That submission focused on the specific skills and capabilities mining companies require from research graduates in delivering research relevant to the minerals industry. It argues that the government should reward universities for their applied research and experimental development in collaboration with industry. Research training could be enhanced by greater engagement between research leaders and higher degree research students to align their activities with industry needs and priorities. The MCA welcomes the opportunity to make this supplemental submission which explores what professional development opportunities exist for HDR students as part of the course of study at (publicly funded) Australian universities. For those HDR students looking for a career in business (or outside academia), career professional development should be an important, if not essential, component of any HDR program. This review examines professional development opportunities for HDR students at a sample of universities across four university networks, including the Group of Eight, the Australian Technology Network, the Regional University Network and the Innovative Research Universities. Government supported industry experience programs were also reviewed. The professional development opportunities reviewed can be divided into research opportunities and career development opportunities. This review also examines a UK model that provides early-career researchers with opportunities to work on innovative projects with small, medium, or large companies (UK Knowledge Transfer Partnership). This program has recently been adapted by the Queensland Government, and is currently being rolled-out across universities in that state. The universities examined in this review include: Network University Group of Eight Monash University University of Queensland Australian Technology Network Queensland University of Technology Curtin University Regional University Network University of Southern Queensland Federation University Innovative Research Universities James Cook University Not aligned to a network University of Newcastle Minerals Council of Australia 2
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Professional development for HDR students can be defined as research development or career development. Career professional development involves workshops, modules, and events that provide HDR students with opportunity to develop their professional and technical skills. Professional skills development was predominantly on a volunteer basis, e.g. communication, project management, job interviews. Information on technical PD at the faculty level was unavailable for review. Technical skills are often offered at the faculty program, but few to no formal programs exist. The level and quality of career development across the universities examined also varies. This review examined information via university websites and telephone interviews. More often than not a lack of information on university websites required the author to contact the universities by telephone. On all occasions, the university contact staff (who provide information to prospective research students) could not provide any specific information on professional development opportunities for HDR students. However when key academic staff were reached, the information provided was helpful to this review. 1. Group of Eight (Go8) The Group of Eight universities have the strongest professional skills development programs for HDR students. Of note, the Monash University Monash Doctoral Program website 1 provides useful information about professional development opportunities to higher degree research (HDR) students. HDR students have access to seminars, training and other opportunities to build professional capabilities in areas that include, but not limited to: Data analysis Project management Effective communication Working in high performance teams Leadership Publication strategies Research commercialisation Specialist teacher training Many faculties at Monash University mandate that their HDR students undertake the Graduate Researcher Development (GDR) program, requiring that all HDR students undertake prescribed course work, 120 hours of optional professional development modules, or a combination of both. HDR students at the University of Queensland have voluntary access to the Career Development Framework (CDF). 2 The CDF has been developed by the UQ Graduate School and focuses on three main areas - transferrable skills, professional skills and research skills. HDR students are emailed career development opportunities by a dedicated CDF team. They also have access to a dedicated webpage, which lists all current CDF events and opportunities. The professional skills development activities at both universities are centralised by the graduate research schools. Information is clearly available on the website. Dedicated staff fielded questions and were knowledgeable about these two programs. 2. Australian Technology Network (ATN) Individually, universities across the network offered varying degrees of professional skills development opportunities. Some are more centralised and better coordinated than others. The general focus tends to gravitate towards development research skills. 1 Monash University, 2015, The Monash Doctoral Program. Accessed [http://www.monash.edu/migr/future-students/phd] 2 Queensland University, 2015, About the Career Development Framework. Accessed [http://cdf.gradschool.uq.edu.au/aboutcareer-development-framework-cdf] Minerals Council of Australia 3
Collectively, the Australian Technology Network has a comprehensive online platform for professional development, called the e-grad School Australia (egsa) program 3 and administered through Queensland University of Technology. It has been designed to provided advanced skills training for people involved in research, i.e. post-graduate students, active researchers, research managers, research administrators and academics (irrespective of where they are physically located). Courses are delivered in modules with a maximum completion time of five weeks. The program covers three broad areas - careers and professional skills, research skills, and teaching and supervisory practice. Within the professional skills modules offered on egsa, students have access to the following modules: LEAP Employment skills modules: These modules provide formal training in professional and generic skills to professionals in the research sector. ATN Lead modules cover the following employability skills: entrepreneurism, leadership and communication, research commercialisation, project management, public policy, global sustainability. Develop your career modules: The aim of these modules is to help the researcher prepare for their careers by teaching basic business skills. Modules in the series cover topics designed to maximise career opportunities and include: Taking Stock: Self-assessment and understanding your assets, skills and interests Taking Stock of the Market: there's a whole world out there! Finding and Making Opportunities: Search Strategies and Networking Career Portfolios Career Portfolios: How to develop and manage your own portfolio In discussions with the egsa coordinator, it was revealed that each ATN University contributes an annual amount for which they receive 15 places per module, and HDR students can register for a maximum of 2 modules at a time. Students select the modules they wish to do and the universities coordinate the registrations then forward them to egsa. Non-ATN universities can also participate by way of a subscription to the suite of modules, or alternatively, for a set fee per student per module. To date over 8,000 students from universities across Australia and New Zealand have completed egsa training courses. A recent longitudinal study of past students suggests that 71 per cent of students who have completed egsa courses feel that these courses have already helped them in their career goals, while 70 per cent say that they have already used the skills learned from their egsa training 4. 3. Regional University Network (RUN) Universities within the Regional University Network run separate developmental programs that HDR students can access. The University of Southern Queensland, for example, offers HDR students access to their Research Development and Training (ReDTrain) program. 5 ReDTrain is focused on the building of research skills and capabilities. The program consists of a year-long program of workshops on ethics, financials, intellectual property, grant and research writing. At Federation University, a dedicated Research Services Training and Development Team have developed a candidate centred HDR training model. Candidates complete a skills audit at commencement of their research. Once the candidates have identified their skills needs, they have access to 22 seminars each year (of 1.5 hours duration each), approximately five workshops each year, and free access to the Epigeum suite of research method and literature review courses. From the information provided, these programs are primarily designed to enhance the candidate s research skills. Other skills development and training opportunities may be offered in the faculties or via external sources. 3 Australian Technology Network, egsa: Who we are. Accessed [http://www.egradschool.edu.au/] 4 Unpublished data provided by the egsa coordinator, 2015. 5 University of Southern Queensland, 2015, About ReDTrain. Accessed [http://www.usq.edu.au/research/supportdevelopment/research-training/about-redtrain] Minerals Council of Australia 4
4. Innovation Research Universities (IRU) and other universities Like the Regional University Network, universities in the Innovation Research Universities (IRU) network generally focus training support in areas of research development training. James Cook University offer a range of workshops and online resources for HDR students. 6 Similar to many universities, the University of Newcastle Career Services team provide students with a calendar of workshop events to assist all university students in making informed career decisions and enhance job seeking skills. 7.There is also a training and development page for HDR students, providing access to workshop and online resources and recordings which focus predominantly on research development e.g. grammar, thesis presentations, etc. 8 No information was provided on the respective websites that links the HDR program with career development opportunities and this author was unable to contact the designated officer overseeing professional development. 6 JCU Graduate Research School, 2015, Workshops, Training and Events. Accessed [http://www.jcu.edu.au/grs/workshops/] 7 University of Newcastle, 2015, Events and Workshops. Accessed [https://www.newcastle.edu.au/currentstudents/support/careers-jobs-and-your-future/events-and-workshops] 8 University of Newcastle, 2015, Training and Development. Accessed [https://www.newcastle.edu.au/research-andinnovation/graduate-research/current-students/support-and-resources/training-and-development] Minerals Council of Australia 5
KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER PARTNERSHIPS The MCA sees a positive correlation between the provision of professional career development by universities and HDR graduates and career readiness. In concert with professional development opportunities, HDR students will benefit strongly from industry placement, or work experience. The United Kingdom s Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) was reviewed as part of this study, in order to understand how professional development opportunities for HDR students and recent graduates are conducted internationally. The United Kingdom model The UK Government offer research and development opportunities to businesses to engage with academic institutions and enable access to skills and expertise to help the business develop. Known as the Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP), they enable early-career researchers to work on an innovative industry project. Project duration is between one and three years, and can be undertaken with a small, medium and large business. 9 This KTP arrangement (launched in 2003) ensures that businesses acquire new knowledge and expertise while HDR students and early-career researchers gain industry experience and personal and professional development opportunities. The KTP arrangement accordingly ensures that universities and research organisations will apply their expertise to enhance the business relevance of their research and teaching. The KTP has recently been launched in Queensland by the Queensland Government. The program provides a part-funded grant to the business, to contribute towards the cost of the supervisor and the salary of the early-career researcher. Businesses will generally have to contribute around one-third of the cost, i.e. around 20,000 for small and medium enterprises, and 30,000 for large companies. 10 Research by the UK Government show the benefits of taking part in a KTP: Businesses achieve an average increase in annual profit of more than 1 million after taking part. Academic partners produce on average more than 3 new research projects and 2 research papers for each project Around 60 per cent of associates (early-career researchers) are offered a permanent job in the company when the project ends. 11 KTP has in fact become one of the UK s largest graduate recruitment programs for graduates, with over 300 job opportunities each year. 9 Innovate UK Network, 2015, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships. Accessed [https://connect.innovateuk.org/web/ktp] 10 Gov.UK, 2015, Knowledge Transfer Partnerships: what they are and how to apply. Accessed [https://www.gov.uk/guidance/knowledge-transfer-partnerships-what-they-are-and-how-to-apply] 11 Ibid Minerals Council of Australia 6
ALCOA Europe KTP project Alcoa is the world s leading producer of primary and fabricated aluminium. Alcoa entered into a KTP with the University of Reading. The project aimed to improve shape performance for a low gauge aluminium plate mill through analysing and expanding plant knowledge, adaptation procedures and process modelling. Benefits to KTP partners The company: According to the Technical Team Manager Plate Production, the KTP project increased the throughput of hot rolling and sawing processes. The project developed a novel shape measurement device and deeper understanding of shape phenomenon helped solve the production problem. As a result of the successful collaboration, Alcoa is producing quality plates with higher efficiency. The project has increased plant capacity by 36 per cent for plates in the 20-35mm gauge range. This has created annual savings of 500,000 per year. The early-career researcher: Sathish Bynoor had recently completed his Masters in Scientific Computation. Through this KTP I have experienced the culture and best practices of a worldclass company whilst being supported by leading universities. The structured training and development during the project enabled me to secure a job. Sathish has been able to develop his business, project management and technical skills as a result of the KTP project. The academic partner: Dr William Browne from the University of Reading was academic lead on the project. According to Dr Browne, high quality industrial data was obtained that has been used for developing state-of-the-art data mining techniques and as instructive examples when teaching modern heuristics. Academic staff gained valuable industrial experience and increased their expertise in the use of industrial equipment and systems. A real-world dataset has also been obtained that will advance research in future data mining. The Knowledge Transfer Partnership has become an important program for the United Kingdom. The potential benefits of using such a model in Australia are many, one being the provision of relevant industry training for HDR students. Knowledge Transfer Partnership in Australia The Queensland Government through the Advance Queensland initiative have taken the lead in adopting the successful KTP within their state. The Queensland KTP is a new initiative and is currently accepting applications. The Queensland KTP offers funding of up to $50,000 per project to help SME with the cost of hiring a graduate to work on an innovative project similar to the UK KTP model. The program runs as follows: Businesses nominate a 6-12 month project and apply for up to $50,000 in funding. Businesses must also contribute 1/3 financial assistance. If approved, business works with a University (e.g. USQ) to locate an appropriate, recently completed, honours, masters or PhD (within two years) to undertake the project. A University supervisor is paid up to $10,000 to mentor the business, the project and the graduate The business must be a small to medium sized business i.e. less than 200 employees. 12 PhD Industry Experience Program In concert with the KTP, the Queensland government is also providing opportunities for PhD students to work on soon-to-be listed projects with businesses in Queensland. The PhD Industry Experience Program will provide placement to PhD students as part of their course, and their business supervisor 12 Queensland Government, 2015, Advance Queensland Knowledge Transfer Partnerships program. Accessed [http://advanceqld.initiatives.qld.gov.au/funding/knowledge-transfer-partnerships.aspx] Minerals Council of Australia 7
will provide feedback to the university on their contribution to the project. Businesses have the opportunity to gain access to researchers to solve problems they may have. Unlike the knowledge transfer partnership, there is no financial support provided. 13 13 Queensland Government, 2015, PhD Industry Experience Program. Accessed [http://advanceqld.initiatives.qld.gov.au/funding/phd-industry-experience.aspx] Minerals Council of Australia 8
CONCLUSION Higher Degree Research (HDR) students and recent graduates would benefit from enhanced career development opportunities at university, and applied research opportunities within industry. This review showed that the focus of PD programs on HDR programs in Australia is generally towards research development, and on providing the skills that students need for the successful completion of their studies. From the information available, professional development opportunities for HDR across the four university networks is mixed. Some universities offer a coordinated approach between the graduate school and faculties, but more often than not, professional development opportunities are piecemeal and take on a scatter-gun approach. The marketing for professional development opportunities linked to HDR programs mostly lacked visibility with the exception of Monash University. More emphasis on career professional development is required, as is more coordination with industry. The United Kingdom s Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) provides an excellent opportunity to better deliver professional development opportunities for HDR students and recent graduates. Businesses will acquire new knowledge and expertise. HDR students and early-career researchers will gain industry experience plus personal and professional development. Universities and research organisations will apply their expertise to enhance the business relevance of their research and teaching. The KTP has recently been launched in Queensland by the Queensland Government. The MCA believes that career professional development initiatives, including the Knowledge Transfer Partnership concept, merit further consideration as part of the ACOLA Review of Australia s Research Training System, especially if this is considered on a nationally coordinated basis. Minerals Council of Australia 9
RECOMMENDATIONS The MCA in this supplemental submission to the Australian Council of Learned Academies (ACOLA) Review of Australia s Research Training System recommends: Professional development opportunities for HDR students should be consistent across the academic spectrum for HDR students. A nationally consistent model that ensures an appropriate mix of research focused and career focused outcomes would enhance the current imbalance towards research training. The Australian Technology Network egsa program provides a an example of such a coordinated approach to professional development across universities. Professional development should be mandated on HDR programs with a prescribed minimum number of hours. Monash University use its strong professional development program as a selling point on the marketing materials of its HDR programs. In many faculties, students are required to undertake a minimum of 120 hours during the course of their Ph.D. program. HDR students and recent graduates need access to coordinated programs that offer them opportunities to work with companies to solve business and technical programs. The UK s Knowledge Transfer Partnerships program is a highly successful model in providing industrybased training for early-researchers, and has recently been adopted by the Queensland Government. Such a model, on a national scale, would greatly benefit HDR students and recent graduates (as well as businesses and universities) and create greater innovative dividends from research. Minerals Council of Australia 10