CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY

Mr KOUTSANTONIS (West Torrens) (14:24): Can the Premier inform the house of the status of the Carnegie Mellon University in Adelaide and the progress of the government's University City project?

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:25): I thank the honourable member for his question and for his interest in education.

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. M.D. RANN: I know that; I have been aware of that for a very long time. The presence of Carnegie Mellon University has a vital role in the growth and future of South Australia as a university city. The bold, bipartisan vision started several years ago during discussions that I had on a train heading north with the then foreign minister, Alexander Downer, the then head of Santos, John Ellice-Flint, the then head of the Economic Development Board, Robert Champion de Crespigny and others. We all agreed to work to support our existing universities and to attract world-class new universities to help Adelaide become an internationally recognised university city. Let me quote Alexander Downer, someone for whom I have a great deal of respect and, if I can say, affection:

If Adelaide genuinely became a university city, it would change the character of the city...It would build its intellectual life; it would subtly change its lifestyle; it would spawn new industries, particularly at the high end of technology; it would attract investors who at present may feel Sydney or Melbourne offer more intellectual diversity than Adelaide; it would make our city more cosmopolitan because, as a university city, it would be a magnet for students and staff alike from Asia, the United States and Europe.

Alexander Downer also noted:

To make Adelaide a university city demands establishment of new institutions.

Carnegie Mellon is Australia's first foreign university, and we are fortunate to have this world-class educational institution in our state. Ranked 20^th in the world overall, Carnegie Mellon University is also ranked seventh in the world for technology, according to The Times (London report '07). In addition, their programs, information and technology management and public policy analysis are ranked first and fourth—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: —in the United States, respectively, according to the USNews & World Report and Times. This exceptional university has produced 15 Nobel Prize winners. In the overall world rankings, Carnegie Mellon is ahead of all but one of the Australian universities. Just two years after its Adelaide launch, the Carnegie Mellon Heinz School has completed three major student intakes. Enrolments have increased 30 per cent since 2007 and the December 2008 graduating class is estimated to be 48 alumnae. By August 2008 I am told that enrolments will be 112 students, and by 2010 the number is expected to double. To date, Carnegie Mellon in Adelaide has attracted a student body from 19 different countries.

It is time to look at the hinterland of greatness in terms of support for this. The project has placed Adelaide at the vanguard of Australian cities. As former prime minister John Howard (who was made an AC with my strong support at the weekend) stated to me in a letter of 1 September 2006—we became pen pals:

Please convey my best wishes and congratulations to all those who worked tirelessly to bring the Carnegie Mellon Campus to Australia—it is indeed a milestone in the history of our country's tertiary education.

John Winston Howard. And the name Winston rings true as well. In supporting changes to commonwealth law to allow Carnegie Mellon to establish a campus in Adelaide, the commonwealth education minister at the time—who was it?

Mr Koutsantonis: Brendan Nelson.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: Brendan Nelson said:

The introduction into the sector of such a highly regarded international university will increase diversity and choice within the Australian higher education sector making Australia more globally competitive and part of the global higher education marketplace and attract students from around the world who are seeking a high quality education experience.

If members opposite do not believe me, or the Nobel Prize Committee, or the world rankings of universities, at least listen to Alexander Downer, John Howard and Brendan Nelson, because I am in such great company.

Of course, this has required a financial contribution from our state. The financial agreement between South Australia and CMU was capped at $19.5 million and set up over a four-year time frame. The funding was allocated to assist with start-up and establishment costs that would assist Carnegie Mellon as well as benefit the greater university city project. Alexander Downer said:

Government funding should be transparent and debated. But the critics are wrong. Taking the seed funding and dividing it by the number of students currently at the university is absurd.

Alexander Downer said that. I want to say this and, if he wants to use it in the next election campaign, let him do so: Alexander Downer is right. One does not judge the success of a project such as this after two years but, rather, after 10 years. For example, dividing the cost of infrastructure improvements by the first two years of enrolments fails to acknowledge the prospects for future growth and how much the cost per student will fall into this growth.

The next phase of the university city project will be the establishment of an international university precinct based in Victoria Square. The camera is still running! Cranfield University, part of the UK's defence academy, has already established a business development office next to Carnegie Mellon in the historic Torrens Building. Cranfield University is one of Western Europe's largest academic centres for strategic and applied research, development and design. The Leader of the Opposition should know this, given his military background. Cranfield Defence University is one of the world leaders in defence-related education.

While in the United Kingdom recently I signed a terms sheet with University College London, and negotiations are underway for the establishment of a UCL branch campus in Adelaide. Apart from all the Nobel Prize winners that the University College London has produced, graduates include other political leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi. University College London is one of the world's top 10 universities. In South Australia UCL will deliver a masters of science in energy and resources management. Do members opposite know why it is doing that? It is because we have a big mining boom coming.

It will also provide research places for doctoral students. The courses offered by UCL will complement programs provided by our local universities, focused on the rising needs of our resources sector. They will also complement new initiatives, such as the Institute for Minerals and Energy Resources (which I announced in May). This institute will be based at the University of Adelaide and will draw on the niche expertise of universities (such as the University of Nottingham) to provide an integrated approach to complex systems and problems confronting the mining and resources sector.

By the way, apparently we failed in attracting overseas students—and I will get onto that in a minute. The benefits of having a university city vision are already around us. International education is now the state's largest service sector export and, after wine, mining and manufacturing, our fourth largest overall export, accounting for 3,250 local jobs. The international education industry brought $648 million into the South Australian economy in 2006-07—a 17 per cent increase on the 2005-96 total of $553 million.

Let us get onto the question of whether we have failed to attract overseas students. Record numbers of international students are coming to Adelaide. This dramatic increase is a direct result of our efforts to promote Adelaide as a destination for international students. In the year 2000, who was in government? Members opposite were—and only 6,000 overseas students were studying in Adelaide. What is the figure now under this government? We now have 23,300 students. If that is a failure let us have more of it.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!