SOURCE: PHILLIP MINNIS/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

The Liberal-National Coalition, led by former Rhodes scholar Tony Abbott, recorded a convincing victory in Saturday¡¯s general election over Kevin Rudd¡¯s Labor government.

Last week, the Coalition said that it will carry out an audit of ¡°increasingly ridiculous research grants¡± funded by the Australian Research Council, and proposed to ¡°reprioritise¡± A$103 million of ARC funding to where it is ¡°really needed¡±. It has also pledged to boost spending in medical research by A$190 million.

Coalition figures gave four examples of ¡°ridiculous¡± projects: an RMIT University study looking at how people could adapt to climate change through public art, a University of Sydney project examining ¡°The God of Hegel¡¯s Post-Kantian idealism¡±, a Macquarie University investigation of ¡°sexuality in Islamic interpretations of reproductive health technologies in Egypt¡± and an ARC project examining the meaning of ¡°I¡± through the study of 18th and 19th century German existentialists.

Mr Abbott was health minister in the previous Coalition government, led by John Howard and one of the Coalition¡¯s first pledges of this election campaign was to protect the budget of the National Health and Medical Research Council and streamline its grant application process.

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Other pledges made by the Coalition have included a revived ¡°Colombo Plan¡±, which would provide funding for 300 Australian students to study in Asia every year, and a plan to boost international student recruitment by expanding post-study work rights.

However, the Coalition has declined to reverse a A$2.3 billion cut to higher education imposed by the Labor government in April to pay for school reforms.

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Before the election, Jeannie Rea, national president of the National Tertiary Education Union, predicted that a new Coalition government was likely to reprise the Howard government¡¯s ¡°dreadful past record on cutting back on higher education funding, interfering in university independence and slugging the students with increased fees¡±.

The union also declined to support Labor¡¯s re-election, and instead spent A$1 million on an unsuccessful campaign to see the sector-friendly Greens retain the balance of power in Australian¡¯s upper house. The balance will now be held by a combination of the Greens and an assortment of small right-wing parties.

paul.jump@tsleducation.com