Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

The performance funding that the government is offering will provide incentives to universities to improve outcomes for students. Universities have everything to gain if they enter into a compact and agree to performance targets. From 2011, universities that respond to the government’s call to enter into a compact with teaching and learning performance targets will receive an annual share of $94.2 million of facilitation funding to make a start. Universities that then meet their targets will receive a share of $136.6 million each year in reward funding. Over the three calendar years of the compacts, this means that up to $550 million will be available to those universities that sign up to the compacts.

These are substantial incentives, fully funded in the 2009 budget, which the government is putting on the table to reward high performance by all Australian universities. We expect Australian students to be the main beneficiaries.