Research and Experimental Development, Higher Education Organisations, Australia

• Expenditure on R&D performed by Australian higher education organisations during the 2018 calendar year was $12,158 million.
• Higher education expenditure on R&D (HERD) increased by 12% in current price terms and 9% in chain volume terms from 2016.
• HERD as a proportion of GDP remained stable at 0.62% over a two year period.
   

Subsequent expenditure figures and supporting commentary relate to current price terms.

• HERD included $11,165 million (92%) in current expenditure and $992 million (8%) in capital expenditure. Compared with 2016, current expenditure increased $1,036 million (10%) and capital expenditure increased $244 million (33%).
• Labour costs were the largest component of HERD, totalling $5,274 million (43%), followed by other current expenditure which totalled $4,984 million (41%). Compared with 2016, labour costs recorded the largest dollar increase, up $499 million (10%), followed by other current expenditure, up $428 million (9%).
   

• The two main sources of funds for HERD were general university funds ($6,823 million or 56% of HERD) and other Commonwealth government funding ($1,891 million or 16% of HERD).
   

Location of expenditure relates to the main campus or head office location of the reporting institution, with the exception of the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA). Please refer to the Location of R&D section of the Explanatory Notes for further information.

• Higher education institutions based in New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland made up just over three quarters (76%) of HERD (at $3,762 million, $3,430 million and $2,000 million, respectively).
• All states recorded an increase in 2018, with New South Wales recording the largest dollar increase, up $536 million (17%).
   

• The Australian Capital Territory had the largest increase in HERD as a proportion of GSP (0.10%).
   

• The distribution of HERD across type of activity remained steady in 2018. The largest component was Applied research totalling $5,884 million (48% of HERD), followed by Pure basic research at $2,769 million (23%), Strategic basic research at $2,167 million (18%) and Experimental development at $1,338 million (11%).
   

• Almost a third of HERD was devoted to the Medical and Health Sciences FOR ($3,722 million or 31%).
• The top four Fields of Research, in terms of expenditure, remained unchanged from 2016. Medical and Health Sciences, Engineering, Biological Sciences and Studies in Human Society made up just over half (53%) of total HERD (at $3,722 million, $1,245 million, $960 million and $558 million, respectively).
   

• The distribution of HERD across SEO was largely unchanged from 2016. A third of HERD was directed towards Health ($4,131 million or 34%). The next most prevalent SEO was Expanding Knowledge ($2,006 million or 16%).
• Health recorded the largest dollar increase of $426 million (11%), followed by Expanding Knowledge, up $368 million (22%).
   

• Australian higher education institutions devoted a total of 81,717 person years of effort (PYE) to R&D in 2018, an increase of 2,709 PYE (3%) from 2016.
• More than half of the human resources devoted to R&D were Postgraduate students (56%) with the remainder being Academic staff (30%) and Other staff supporting R&D (14%).
• New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland accounted for three quarters (76%) of total human resources devoted to R&D.

This release previously used catalogue number 8111.0.