World class education and research
Australia is home to a first-class education system. Students from over 200 countries around the world come to study at our internationally renowned educational institutions. Over 35,000 students from the Chinese Asia region are currently studying in Australia. There were nearly 130,000 enrolments by Chinese students in Australia on student visas in 2008 and an even higher number is expected over 2009.
Australia's education system encourages a culture of innovation and research. Australia's main research and development agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), is one of the world's largest and most diverse, covering agribusiness, information technology, manufacturing, health, sustainable energy, space, the environment and natural resources. The CSIRO is currently collaborating with agencies around the world to advise and assist in over 740 research projects in over 80 countries.
Australia has generated some of the world's most groundbreaking inventions. Australian scientists were responsible for breakthroughs including Aspro in 1915; the original heart pacemaker in 1926; the first ultrasound scanner in 1961; the bionic ear in 1979; the SolarScan in 1998, which can quickly detect cancerous sunspots; and the Gardasil® cervical cancer vaccine in 2006.
Other innovative Australians include:
- David Warren, inventor of the black-box flight recorder
- Earl Owen, pioneer of microsurgery
- Sir Howard Florey, shared a Nobel Prize in 1945 as co-discoverer of the antibiotic penicillin
- James Harrison, inventor of the mechanical refrigeration system
- Ralph Sarich, engineer of the orbital engine.
Click here for more information on innovation, science and research.