M² building funding to secure future jobs

The new M² building, part of the Materials and Minerals Sciences Learning and Research Hub at the University of South Australia, will foster Australia’s next generation of engineering, material and mineral science graduates.

Visiting the building site, Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr said the facility would raise cutting-edge skills in key industries like mining and ensure high-skill, high-wage jobs for Australians into the future.

The federal government has contributed $40 million through the Education Investment Fund (EIF) to make the project possible.

“Investing in tertiary education and research infrastructure is vital to ensuring Australia’s future productivity and prosperity,” Senator Carr said.

“This facility will shape the way we approach key industry sectors like minerals, materials, manufacturing and systems engineering.

“The students graduating through the Hub will take up important positions within our industries, and the skills that they learn here will ensure that Australia’s industries continue to operate effectively and can compete globally. This will help support local families and communities now and in the future.

“Since 2008, this government has invested almost $1.8 billion through the EIF competitive rounds into Australia’s research and higher education infrastructure.

“This investment has made 43 new projects possible around the country.

“These investments create and develop the ideas that fuel our industries. They give Australian firms the innovation capability that they need to be competitive on the global stage and apply cleaner and greener technologies.

“The infrastructure that we are helping to fund will create tomorrow’s technological advances that will change the way we do things in health, the environment and in all aspects of day-to-day life.”

The Minister also toured the UniSA’s Ian Wark Research Institute and met representatives from the university.

More information about EIF is available from http://www.deewr.gov.au/HigherEducation/Programs/EIF/Pages/default.aspx.

More information about the Hub project is available from http://wcl.ml.unisa.edu.au/~snappybackup/index.php.