CRANFIELD UNIVERSITY

In reply to Mr PISONI (Unley) (23 November 2010) (First Session).

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Minister for State Development): I have been advised of the following:

In March/April 2007, Cranfield University and University of South Australia delivered four co-badged professional development short courses in Adelaide:

'Introduction to Electronic Warfare'—Cranfield University

'Logistics Engineering and Integrated Logistic Support'—Cranfield University

'Systems Integration—University of SA

'Systems Test and Evaluation'—University of SA.

The universities subsequently undertook a related joint market research project to gather data from these courses to consider future defence education opportunities in Adelaide and determine the feasibility for South Australian Universities and Cranfield University to offer further courses in Adelaide.

An amount of $634,000 was provided by the state government towards the course delivery costs and to fund the separate market research project.

In October 2007, the South Australian Government (through the Department of the Premier and Cabinet (DPC)) entered into a three-year Business Development Agreement with Cranfield University. Through this Agreement, the State Government and Cranfield agreed to fund the establishment of the Business Development Office in Adelaide by way of equal shares up to an annual maximum contribution of $250,000—a total of $750,000 each over the three years. In total, DPC provided $611,000 towards this Agreement.

In financial year 2009-10, the residual of DPC's funding under the Business Development Agreement ($139,000) was re-allocated in the third year of the Agreement to establish the Torrens Resilience Institute (TRI), with Cranfield University being the founding partner along with the three South Australian universities. An additional $147,000 was provided to help establish the Institute.