European Union - Australia Partnership Framework

OBJECTIVE V : TO STRENGTHEN COOPERATION BETWEEN THE EU AND AUSTRALIA IN SCIENCE, RESEARCH, TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION, EDUCATION AND CULTURE AND TO FACILITATE THE MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE

RATIONALE

Australia and the EU are committed to build on their Science and Technology Agreement, developing an innovation, science and research partnership to create new opportunities for collaboration. The Lisbon Strategy has emphasised the importance of the knowledge triangle (education, research and innovation) in achieving competitiveness and improvements in social and environmental factors. The EU and Australia have collaborated for many years on education through joint mobility projects and initiatives such as the Europe Centres. That commitment to collaboration was renewed in a Joint Declaration on Cooperation in Education and Training signed in 2007. We wish now to build on our past successes and broaden the scope of engagement to include policy dialogue in education and increased mobility for our students and scholars. The EU and Australia will also seek to identify opportunities for further cultural cooperation and exchanges. Furthermore, both parties intend to facilitate the freedom of movement of genuine travellers.

LONG/MEDIUM TERM OBJECTIVES

• Promote and facilitate greater exchange of students and scholars and inter-institutional linkages through mobility projects and scholarships, joint conferences/seminars and researcher and staff exchange.
• Extend and enhance the role of the Europe Centres and promote regular collaboration activities between the Europe Centres both within Australia and in the region.

AREAS OF ON-GOING COLLABORATION

• Increase the visibility and understanding of innovation, science and research partnerships through expanding the role of the Forum for European Australian Science & Technology cooperation (FEAST) which highlights, promotes and facilitates collaborative research between the Australian and EU research communities .
• Mutual commitment to FEAST, through activities that include thematic collaboration roadmaps, liaison, best practice strategies and tactics, an impact monitoring system and continuation of established activities.
• Promote collaboration opportunities through Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation's CSIRO's National Research Flagships arising from opening-up the Flagship Collaboration Fund to overseas researchers, and through the international elements of the Australian Research Council's National Competitive Grants Program.
• Encourage mutual exchanges between Australian and EU research organisations through support for Australian participation in European Cooperation in the field of Scientific and Technical Research (COST) and the Marie Curie programs especially the International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (IRSES).
• Continue Australian involvement in international "big science" projects , e.g. the EC funded Preparatory Study for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), the next generation radio-telescope; membership of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory; and participation in European space science activities.
• Building on the outcomes of the 10 th JSTCC meeting held on 29-30 September 2008, intensify support for an innovation, science and research partnership between Australia and the EU, including new opportunities for strategic research partnerships under the European Commission's Framework Programmes for R&D.
• Agree on priorities and objectives for a sixth and seventh round of mobility projects . Explore long-term options for more flexible and less-resource intensive student mobility, academic cooperation and credit transfer arrangements.
• Regular promotion of existing projects and programmes for Australian students to study in Europe such as Erasmus Mundus and for students and researchers from Europe to study in Australia such as the Endeavour Europe Awards, and continued support for websites which disseminate information on opportunities for students to study in Europe.
• Encourage greater institutional linkages and partnerships with a view to strengthening the educational element of the knowledge triangle (research-innovation-education).
• Continue information exchanges on education and training, including the Bologna and Copenhagen processes in respect of higher education and vocational education and training.
• Ensure that the visa policies of the EU and Australia complement and facilitate the overall objectives of their new partnership where these result in their citizens travelling to and from both parties.
• Maintain a dialogue on questions of visa reciprocity.
• Australia to provide statistical reports on the new Australian short-term visa system, eVisitors, including the number of eVisitors applications, grants, refusals and the grant rate broken down by citizenship. The report will also include the percentage of grants which were automatically granted without being referred for manual finalisation.

29 October 2008