August 7, 2019

Federal Education Minister visits UOW

Landmark performance funding report released

Federal Minister for Education, the Honourable Dan Tehan MP, was welcomed to the University of Wollongong (UOW) on Wednesday, 7 August, visiting the Wollongong and Innovation Campuses.

In his first official visit to UOW since his cabinet appointment in August 2018, Minister Tehan toured the University’s world class facilities, including the Facility for Intelligent Fabrication, Early Start, the Australian Institute for Innovative Materials and iAccelerate.

Following the tour, the Minister’s held a briefing for vice-chancellors from across Australia on critical tertiary education matters including the proposed performance-based funding model and cyber security issues.

In his capacity as expert panel chair, UOW Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Wellings, CBE, presented the panel’s report on performance-based funding to Minister Tehan and fellow vice-chancellors.

Professor Wellings praised Minister Tehan for working closely with the sector and endorsing the system.

“We’ve been working with the government to develop a more regulated process,” Professor Wellings said.

“What Minister Tehan is asking us to do here is to put additional resources into relevant study areas to drive the productivity of the country.”

Minister Tehan thanked Professor Wellings and the committee.

“I think they’ve done a superb job in putting this report forward.

“This is something the Government is going to look at very closely. We’ve had a good conversation with the sector this morning and they are going to go away and consider it carefully too,” he said.

The Minister also praised the sector for the way it had worked constructively with the committee and complimented UOW on its work conducting research and developing research into commercial opportunities.