Portfolio: Education
http://www.arc.gov.au
$1.1B
2026-27 Budget (Budget Paper No. 4)$1.1B
2024-25 Total Revenue150
Headcount (2024-25)Tertiary Collection of Student Information (TCSI) Renewal Project
Department of Education
Total Budget
$32.4M
Digital Budget
$27.8M
July 2023 — June 2026
The TCSI Renewal Project is an ICT project delivering improved decision-making, service provision, access and security. It will reduce administrative overheads, improve productivity and increase satisfaction of higher education providers and students. The benefits will be delivered through enhancements to analytic capacity, monitoring and service delivery tools, to drive more accurate and timely data collection processes and ensure the security and privacy of data holdings.
Education Funding System (EFS) (Transforming Program Administration for Schools and Higher Education (TPASU)
Department of Education
Total Budget
$88M
Digital Budget
$71M
July 2023 — December 2026
The EFS project is a significant initiative by the department to modernise and streamline the management of education funding across Australia, to improve the administration of $46 billion in annual funding allocated to Australian schools and higher education institutions. At the time of preparing this report, this project is subject to the escalation protocols set out in the Assurance Framework for Digital and ICT Investments. These protocols are designed to support agencies in the timely resolution of delivery challenges.
Child Care Subsidy (CCS) - Automation and Streamlining of Gap Fee Compliance
Department of Education
Total Budget
$7.5M
Digital Budget
$7.5M
July 2024 — June 2026
The CCS – Automation and Streamlining of Gap Fee Compliance project aims to enhance CCS program integrity and efficiency by automating and streamlining gap fee compliance activities. This project is part of broader efforts from 2022–23 to 2024–25 to prevent fraud and ensure compliance, delivering significant savings over 6 years. The project enhances the financial support through the CCS, benefiting Australian families and children.
Schools Unique Student Identifier (USI)
Department of Education
Total Budget
$NFPM
Digital Budget
$NFPM
January 2019 — December 2027
The Schools USI project is a national enabling initiative in the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement 2025–2034 (BFSA). The initiative expands the national USI system operating currently in the vocational education and training (VET) and higher education sectors to the school education sector. Once fully implemented, a unique number will be assigned to all primary and secondary school students in Australia, including students in alternative schooling arrangements such as homeschooling. This unique national number will be able to travel with a student throughout their school years and into VET and higher education. Implementation of the Schools USI national enabling initiative will continue in 2026 consistent with the BFSA schedule, with all school students to receive a USI by the end of 2027.
8 tagged
Reform proposals on YourGov that name this department as a delivery partner — drawn from citizen voice, government strategy, research, international examples and gap analysis.
STRATEGY SUMMARY
To help shape Australian research for the nation’s economic, social, environmental and cultural benefit by enabling excellent research; evaluating the excellence, impact and depth of Australian research; providing expert advice and research grants services; supporting research integrity and promoting ethical research. [AR p. 3]
PURPOSE
To help shape Australian research for the nation’s economic, social, environmental and cultural benefit by enabling excellent research; evaluating the excellence, impact and depth of Australian research; providing expert advice and research grants services; supporting research integrity and promoting ethical research. [AR p. 3]
Strategic priorities
· 3
World-class advice and engagement
Research system excellence
Empowered people
Outcomes
· 1
Outcome 1: Growth of knowledge and innovation through managing research funding schemes, measuring research excellence and providing advice.
Building Australia’s research capacity by supporting excellent, internationally competitive research projects, fellowships and awards.
KEY ACTIVITIES
Values
· 4
excellence
integrity
collaboration
innovation
Performance measures
· 1
| Code | Measure | Target 2025-26 | Latest result | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
CCE01 | National Security Science and Technology Centre (NSSTC) funding | Increase funding to support national security research | Target met Annual Report 2024-25 · p.180 | Achieved |
Source documents
· 9
2024-25
PDF version Annual Report 2024-25 is now available
Open
2023-24
PDF version Annual Report 2023–24 is now available.
Open
2022-23
PDF version Annual Report 2022–23 is now available.
Open
2021-22
PDF version Annual Report 2021–22 is now available
Open
2020-21
PDF version Annual Report 2020–21 is now available
Open
2008-09
PDF Format
Open
2022
Reconciliation Action Plan May 2022 to April 2024
Open
2022
Download the ARC Strategy 2022–2025 (PDF 4.8KB)
Open
2025
PID Action Plan
Open
Ideas distilled from this entity's strategy & evidence
· 8
Increase the percentage of projects meeting performance targets
Implement a detailed project review and feedback mechanism to improve project management and outcomes.
2024-25.pdf [AR p.75]
Adopt Singapore’s research collaboration framework
Implement Singapore’s collaborative research framework to enhance partnerships and funding opportunities.
association-worldbank.org-governance.txt
Launch an annual innovation grant
Introduce a dedicated grant to fund innovative research projects that have the potential for significant societal impact.
2024-25.pdf [CP p.4]
Create a public research project dashboard
Build a public dashboard showing the status of funded research projects and their outcomes.
2024-25.pdf [CP p.2]
Increase the number of funded early-stage research projects
Allocate additional funds to increase the number of early-stage research projects.
2024-25.pdf [AR p.75]
Enhance research integrity training
Develop and roll out a comprehensive research integrity training program for all grant recipients.
2024-25.pdf [CP p.2]
Streamline grant tracking process
Implement a digital grant tracking system to simplify the monitoring of grant progress.
2024-25.pdf [CP p.2]
Adopt Deloitte’s grant management system
Implement Deloitte’s grant management system to improve efficiency and transparency in grant administration.
consulting-deloitte.com-government-public.txt
Increase the percentage of projects meeting performance targets
Implement a detailed project review and feedback mechanism to improve project management and outcomes.
2024-25.pdf [AR p.75]
Adopt Singapore’s research collaboration framework
Implement Singapore’s collaborative research framework to enhance partnerships and funding opportunities.
association-worldbank.org-governance.txt
Launch an annual innovation grant
Introduce a dedicated grant to fund innovative research projects that have the potential for significant societal impact.
2024-25.pdf [CP p.4]
Create a public research project dashboard
Build a public dashboard showing the status of funded research projects and their outcomes.
2024-25.pdf [CP p.2]
Increase the number of funded early-stage research projects
Allocate additional funds to increase the number of early-stage research projects.
2024-25.pdf [AR p.75]
Enhance research integrity training
Develop and roll out a comprehensive research integrity training program for all grant recipients.
2024-25.pdf [CP p.2]
Streamline grant tracking process
Implement a digital grant tracking system to simplify the monitoring of grant progress.
2024-25.pdf [CP p.2]
Adopt Deloitte’s grant management system
Implement Deloitte’s grant management system to improve efficiency and transparency in grant administration.
consulting-deloitte.com-government-public.txt
Legislation administered
· 3
2001
Australian Research Council Act 2001
The entity administers funding of excellent pure basic research, strategic basic research and applied research under the National Competitive Grants Program.
2024
Commonwealth Grants Policy Framework
The entity follows these guidelines for its grant schemes.
2024
Commonwealth Grants Rules and Principles 2024
The entity adheres to these rules for its grant schemes.
Source library
· 14
9.2MB
2024-25.pdf
3.9MB
2023-24.pdf
6.1MB
2022-23.pdf
5.3MB
2021-22.pdf
7.1MB
2020-21.pdf
3.7MB
ARC-20at-20a-20Glance-20--20August-202024_double-page.pdf
39KB
historya4_pre2001.pdf
45KB
historya4_post2001-20-281-29.pdf
385KB
ARC-20Policy-20Statement-20on-20Experimental-20Development_0.pdf
610KB
ARC-202025-26_Education_PBS.pdf
412KB
2008-09.pdf
2.4MB
Australian-20Research-20Council-20Innovate-20RAP.pdf
Bodies within the Education portfolio
Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency
Non-corporate Commonwealth Entity
Australian National University
Corporate Commonwealth Entity
Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership Limited
Commonwealth Company
Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority
Corporate Commonwealth Entity
Australia's Economic Accelerator Advisory Board
Statutory Body
Higher Education Standards Panel
Statutory Body
Tuition Protection Service Advisory Board
Statutory Body
Tuition Protection Service Director
Statutory Body
Australian Research Council Advisory Committee
Statutory Body
National School Resourcing Board
Statutory Body