Universities call for more funding to match overseas standards Universities Australia has called for more funding from the Federal Government. TELL US: Are our universities underfunded? UNIVERSITIES need an extra $240 for each student place from the Federal Government to catch up with standards set overseas, their peak advocacy group says. In the Universities Australia pre-Budget submission, it calls for 2.5 per cent a year more funding for student places over the next five years, in addition to indexation. Base funding is now $9400 per place per year, so the request would equal an extra $240 per student in 2014. The group also wants $150-$200 million a year in funding for national research infrastructure which was axed in 2012, to continue to provide $85 million a year in funding for the Future Fellowships program and to restore funding cut from the Sustainable Research Excellence scheme last year. "Compared with our international peers, Australia has been under-investing in university education, resulting in Australia falling to the lowest rungs on the OECD ladder in relation to public investment," the submission states. Australia ranks 25th out of 29 countries on the unadjusted data, investing just 0.74 per cent of GDP on tertiary education. Successive government reviews have found the current level of funding per student to be inadequate and have called for a significant increases in public investment in universities. The submission also states the importance of supporting research because, as an investment, it has a high rate of return and was a key driver of increased productivity. The Future Fellowships, whose funding commitment ends in July, attracts and retains the best and brightest mid-career researchers. While the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure scheme is addressing the problem, many high-priority research facilities were too large or complex to be created and supported by one institution and too important to have their use limited by ownership. Universities Australia chief executive Belinda Robinson said, if taken up, these reforms would increase the quality of and participation rates in university education, growing the economy. "The reforms will also provide a strong, stable and efficient funding base for investments in university research," she said.