EXPLANATORY NOTES
DATA SOURCES
1 The statistics presented in this publication have been compiled from data collected from universities in the Survey of Research and Experimental Development in respect of the year ended 31 December 2004.
2 GDP and GSP figures used to derive HERD/GDP and HERD/GSP ratios are current at the time of manuscript finalisation and are referenced in the tables below.
Gross Domestic Product |
|  |
| 1994-95 | 1996-97 | 1998-99 | 2000-01 | 2002-03 | 2004-05 | |
| $m | $m | $m | $m | $m | $m | |
| |
| GDP | 486 578 | 545 736 | 607 863 | 689 340 | 782 798 | 893 704 | |
| |
| National Income, Expenditure and Product, March Quarter 2006 (cat. no. 5206.0) |
Gross State Product |
| |
| NSW | Vic. | Qld | SA | WA | Tas. | NT | ACT | |
| $m | $m | $m | $m | $m | $m | $m | $m | |
| |
| 2002-03 | 275 358 | 197 266 | 132 432 | 53 635 | 85 470 | 13 502 | 9 042 | 16 091 | |
| 2004-05 | 305 437 | 222 022 | 158 506 | 59 819 | 100 900 | 16 114 | 10 418 | 18 306 | |
| |
| Australian National Accounts, State Accounts (cat. no. 5220.0) |
3 Financial year GDP and GSP data are used to ensure consistency with ratios published in Research and Experimental Development, All Sector Summary, Australia (cat. no. 8112.0).
DEFINITIONS
4 R&D as collected by the ABS is defined in accordance with the OECD standard as comprising 'creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications'.
5 Types of R&D activity comprise pure basic research, strategic basic research, applied research and experimental development. See the Glossary for further details. Data in this classification are subjectively allocated by data providers at the time of reporting, using OECD/ABS definitions. The ABS makes every effort to ensure correct and consistent interpretation and reporting of these data and applies consistent processing methodologies. Analysts using these data should bear the original subjectivity in mind.
6 For a more comprehensive interpretation of the definition of R&D activity, see the Australian Standard Research Classification (ASRC), 1998 (cat. no. 1297.0) or refer to the OECD publication Proposed Standard Practice for Surveys on Research and Experimental Development ('Frascati Manual' 2002), OECD, Paris 2003.
SCOPE AND COVERAGE
7 The OECD definition of the higher education sector encompasses universities and other institutions of post-secondary education regardless of their source of finance or legal status.
8 The ABS R&D survey of the higher education sector covers Australian universities but excludes other higher education institutions, such as colleges of Technical and Further Education. All research performed by universities in the reference period irrespective of the source of funds is in scope, including research performed:
- as a participant in unincorporated Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs); and
- on contract for other legal entities (such as private business or incorporated CRCs).
9 R&D performed on a university campus by other legal entities or their employees is excluded from the survey. For example, R&D performed by incorporated CRCs, university controlled entities or employees of other organisations. The R&D performed by these entities and their employees will be in scope of the relevant R&D sector (Business, Government or Private non-profit).
LOCATION OF R&D
10 Data shown in this publication represent the main campus or head office location of the reporting University, with the exception of the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) which is shown against the Australian Capital Territory.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC OBJECTIVE (SEO) AND RESEARCH FIELDS, COURSES AND DISCIPLINES (RFCD)
11 Statistics classified by SEO and RFCD have been collected and presented in this publication. Data are subjectively allocated by universities at the time of reporting. See the Technical Note on Reliability of Statistics for further detail. For more information on these classifications, see the Australian Standard Research Classification (ASRC), 1998 (cat. no. 1297.0).
DERIVED DATA
12 In compiling their R&D statistics, universities were asked to provide data on:
- direct staff inputs (i.e. staff directly performing R&D);
- direct expenditure (i.e. expenses directly attributable to R&D); and
- other staff and resources supporting, but not directly performing, R&D.
13 To obtain the total cost of the R&D undertaken, indirect (overhead) expenditure needs to be added to direct expenditure on R&D. As some universities included an estimate of overheads in reported data, no further estimation was required. In cases where data did not include overheads, an estimate was calculated by either:
- the university identifying the value of R&D related overhead costs to be apportioned across relevant projects/schools; or
- the ABS, using a methodology agreed to by the universities and the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee. For more information contact the ABS.
CHAIN VOLUME MEASURES
14 The chain volume measures appearing in this publication are annually reweighted chain Laspeyres indexes referenced to the current price values in a chosen reference year (currently 2004). They can be thought of as current price values re-expressed in (i.e. based on) the prices of the previous year and linked together to form continuous time series. They are formed in a multi-stage process of which the major steps are described in Section 15 of the information paper Introduction of Chain Volume Measures in the Australian National Accounts (cat. no. 5248.0).
RELATED PUBLICATIONS
15 Users may also wish to refer to the following publications:
Australian Bureau of Statistics 1998, Australian Standard Research Classification (ASRC), cat. no. 1297.0, ABS, Canberra
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004, Research and Experimental Development, All Sector Summary, Australia, 2002-03, cat. no. 8112.0, ABS, Canberra
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2005, Research and Experimental Development, Businesses, Australia, 2003-04, cat. no. 8104.0, ABS, Canberra
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2004, Research and Experimental Development, Government and Private Non-Profit Organisations, Australia, 2002-03, cat. no. 8109.0, ABS, Canberra
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2005, Main Science and Technology Indicators 2005/2, OECD, Paris
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2003, Proposed Standard Practice for Surveys on Research and Experimental Development ('Frascati Manual' 2002), OECD, Paris.
16 Current publications and other products released by the ABS are listed in the Catalogue of Publications and Products cat. no. 1101.0. The Catalogue is available from any ABS office or the ABS web site <https://www.abs.gov.au>. The ABS also issues a daily Release Advice on the web site which details products to be released in the week ahead.
ABS DATA AVAILABLE ON REQUEST
17 As well as the statistics included in this and related publications, the ABS may have other relevant data available on request. Inquiries should be made to the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.
ROUNDING
18 Where figures have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between sums of the component items and totals.
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