Writer
John Howard
Dr John Howard is an experienced policy analyst focused on science, technology, innovation (STI) policy and practice, industrial policy, management strategy, university-industry engagement, and regional innovation ecosystems. Dr Howard is Executive Director, Acton Institute for Policy Research and Innovation and Visiting Professor, UTS Institute for Public Policy and Governance.
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Universities chasing rankings makes Australia less inventive
The obsession of universities with growth through international rankings that attract fee-paying overseas students has let Australia fall behind in its ability to create new, breakthrough scientific knowledge. Universities talk about “punching above their weight” in publication output, but they have generated only four breakthrough discoveries in the past 25 years. Continue reading »
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Publish or Perish: Escaping the hamster wheel of academic research pursuits
Recently, the issue of “Publish-or-Perish” has come back onto the Australian science policy agenda, with the Chief Scientist, Dr Cathy Foley, saying that existing narrow research metrics are creating a “Publish-or-Perish” culture, perversely incentivising researchers to “publish iteratively”, chasing publication volume and citations rather than quality research. Continue reading »
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Innovation policy advice should be more than an echo chamber
At a recent Innovation Forum, the Minister for Government Services, the Hon Bill Shorten, volunteered the observation that the Australian research and innovation community is in danger of becoming an “echo chamber”, if it wasn’t already. Continue reading »
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Australia’s frontier economy culture threatens opportunity and growth
John Menadue has written two insightful articles on the $530 billion infrastructure scandal. The documented account of waste and misallocation is deeply concerning not only on its own terms but also as the root cause of an even bigger problem in public sector resource allocation. It is a story of a missed opportunity and commitment Continue reading »
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Why do Australian universities have an obsession with rankings?
Australia has the highest percentage of globally ranked universities in the world. Why? What are the implications? Continue reading »
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Underlying tension between mission and money in our universities
The corporatisation of the Higher Education System is complete. It is no longer driven by the community of science but by money. Public higher education institutions are run as “businesses” in a higher education industry where revenues account for approximately 2% of GDP. Continue reading »
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Busted higher education policy demands a reset
The corporatist/managerialist paradigm introduced in the 1990s, with its heavy focus on financial performance metrics, is being rejected by students, staff, business and the broader community. The corporatisation of public higher education, and the substantial wealth it has created, has made the advocates for more money in the current fiscal environment look like greedy rent seekers. Continue reading »
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JOHN HOWARD. Challenges for Australian research and innovation post Covid-19
Australia is looking to rebuild its industrial base to achieve greater self-sufficiency in manufacturing. But we are seriously under-investing in creating the engineering and technology knowledge and skills that will be required to achieve this outcome. Continue reading »
