All current ARC appointments, including the ARC Chair, expire on 30 December 2000. The new Chair and CEO will be statutory appointments under the new ARC Act. Program Managers are expected to be appointed under the Public Service Act, and appointments will commence as soon as possible. Processes for the appointment of ARC Council members are expected to continue much as at present. Given the wider expertise being sought for Council membership, the ARC will be inviting a range of interested parties to nominate suitable persons.
Nominations are to be called mid-year.
We do not yet know how regional universities will be defined. Scheme IGS and RTS implementation will also be from 2001. Institutions eligible for both the IGS and the RTS are those listed on the Australian Qualifications Framework, and potentially include all institutions accredited by States and international Governments to offer Higher Degree Research programs. This means that, for the first time, operating grant funding previously confined to public universities will be available to private providers. If agreement is reached on a new relative funding model in time for the 2001 allocations, then it will be used, if not, the current RFM weightings will apply in terms of funding per student.