There is a fundamental and explicit connection between education and
research, which must be addressed when meeting Australia's research
aspirations. For example, the same researchers in mathematical
statistics, who advise Australia's governments on how to analyse
their data, also train students for careers in those governments (see
point 4 below). The training they offer generally draws substantially
on their research. At a more mundane level, the capacity of
university staff to undertake research depends partly on their
teaching loads (see point 8).
Aspirations for research and education are commonly considered
together in other countries, too. Indeed, one of the reasons for
designating a research area to be of priority is that one hopes to
attract quality teachers to that field. The US National Science
foundation, which in 2003 will commit US$5 billion to fund a range of
research initiatives across all areas of science, has strengthened
this connection still further by designating "learning for the 21st
century workforce" to be a priority area in its own right. (For a
list of other NSF priority areas, see point 7 below.) In
this context
the NSF, which is known almost solely for its support of very
high-level research, draws the connection to "learning" right down
to the school level, not just to university education.
Indeed, the health of the mathematical sciences in universities
impacts on the training of secondary school teachers. Through poor
high-school training in mathematics the quantitative sciences are
no longer accessible to many students in the community. Lack of
mathematical knowledge at the level of year 12 is the greatest
impediment to increased indigenous entry into professions such as
engineering.
There are still other connections between research and education.
For example, quality university research is an excellent
advertisement for quality university education, especially when
Australia is endeavouring to export the latter. Our reputation as a
country with high standards in higher education is inevitably
falling as our research calibre and research profile decline.
It is essential to retain (and to develop where they do not
adequately exist) research skills in areas that will enable the
aspirations to be realised. Some of the areas will be
problem-specific, but others will be generic. The latter encompass
fields such as the mathematical sciences (including statistics). It
will serve Australia poorly if we focus on building specific
problem-solving skills at the expense of the more generic,
enabling-science skills that underpin them.
Mathematics is both the currency and the language of contemporary
advances in science and technology. It lies at the heart even of good
governance, and there (as in many other fields in Australia) it is in
jeopardy. For example, university-based mathematical statistics
researchers, who once advised the Australian Bureau of Statistics on
its methodology, and who trained statisticians for careers in
industry and government, have left this country to pursue their
careers abroad. They have not been replaced. Australia's production
of statistics graduates has plummeted, to such an extent that the
Australian Bureau of Statistics (along with state governments,
industry and the CSIRO) now finds it extremely difficult to recruit
the trained mathematical scientists it needs.
The necessary response is surely obvious: Australia must reverse this
decline, and in particular must take steps that will lead to
increasing our nation's research skills in the generic, enabling
science of mathematics, which underpins our performance in areas
ranging from good governance to developing innovative science and
technology.
Identifying our needs for high-level training produces essentially
the same result. We must appoint and retain university staff who are
strong and active researchers in the mathematical sciences, in order
to supply higher education and research skills in a wide range of
fields of critical importance to Australia.
The framework, and criteria, for selecting research priorities must
devote substantial attention to the generic, enabling-science skills
that underpin methodologies for solving specific problems in
important contemporary areas, for example in bioinformatics and
information & communications technology. They must also sustain
technological advances in more conventional settings, for example in
methodology for statistical analysis of data on the Australian
economy and community. Mathematics lies at the heart of all these
fields, and indeed of most modern innovation, yet Australia's
research strengths in the mathematical sciences, and our ability to
train a new generation of researchers there, are in marked decline.
Over seven years, the number of mathematicians in our universities
has dropped by 30%; in ten years, the number of Australian
departments of statistics has fallen from eight to three.
In short, the mathematical sciences (including statistics) must be a
priority in any framework for setting and implementing national
research directions. Moreover, in view of the linkages discussed in
point 2 above, the mathematical sciences should be a
priority
area
for teaching and training, as well as for research.
The mathematical sciences are fundamentally important to several of
the social sciences, in particular to economics. In international
terms Australia is an under-achiever in the latter field, not least
because of the decline of our contribution to the more theoretical
areas of economics, including econometrics. In short, giving priority
to the mathematical sciences will enhance regrowth in critical areas
of the social sciences.
Other nations are keenly aware of the massive contributions that the
mathematical sciences can make to their futures, appreciating that
mathematics is critical to expanding their economies and ensuring
their security. For example, the US National Science Foundation has
recently begun supporting mathematics at a level which is quite
unprecedented in the Foundation's 51-year history. It is growing its
financial commitment to the mathematical sciences by 20 to 25%
annually, to meet "a vital need for mathematicians and statisticians
to collaborate with engineers and scientists," to quote the NSF. In
particular, the NSF has declared the mathematical sciences to be a
single priority area. (The NSF has five other priority areas:
biocomplexity in the environment, information technology, nanoscale
science and engineering, learning for the 21st century workforce, and
social, behavioral and economic sciences.) This provides strong
endorsement of the proposal made earlier in this submission, that
the critical enabling science of mathematics should be given the
status of a research priority area in Australia.
In countries such as the US the demand for mathematicians is so
great that it can be met in only a very minor way through domestic
training programs. The only means of overcoming the shortfall is to
attract many mathematicians from abroad, for example from Australia.
This compounds the difficulties here that have already been created
by long-term cuts in university budgets for mathematics, and by the
disappearance of departments of statistics (and mathematics), across
Australia. We are suffering a continual outflow of our best
mathematical scientists, ranging from senior and experienced
researchers to outstanding new graduates, who are taking attractive
positions overseas.
It is essential that excellent researchers in priority areas be
given more time for research, in the form of relief from escalating
teaching and administrative loads, and from the increasingly
burdensome task of raising funding (for both teaching and research).
Without this, the high rate of departures for posts abroad, and the
low rate of entry into research careers in Australia, will continue.
Therefore, it is necessary to:
In particular, achieving research priorities in universities
requires better support for university teaching. See point 2
above
for further discussion of this linkage.
It is necessary too to increase the level of funding given to
promising young researchers in priority areas, in order to encourage
them to embark on research-oriented careers in Australia. Therefore,
it is essential to:
Poor support for research is one reason we are losing so many of our
best young people to positions abroad. See point 7 above.
Finally, and by no means least:
Peter Hall (Chair, National Committee for Mathematics)
(19/8/02)