Acknowledgement

The assistance of Michael McBain, Kevin Yang and Clare O’Hanlon from the Melbourne Graduate School of Education (MGSE) in supplying data, setting up and implementing the online survey and conducting an internet search of knowledge mobilisation activities is gratefully acknowledged.

Introduction

This chapter examines the role of the objective of knowledge mobilisation – framed in much of the Australian literature in terms of ‘engagement’ and ‘dialogue’ – in Australian education faculties and the research activities they manage. It is based on a review of the relevant, though scarce, Australian literature, administrative data relating to the funding of education research through the Australian Research Council (ARC) competitive grants scheme, a search and analysis of the websites of all education faculties in Australian higher education institutions and data collected by a survey targeting research managers and associate deans (or equivalent) of research in faculties or schools of education in Australia.

It begins by describing the Australian higher education context and considering how knowledge mobilisation is conceptualised and discussed in the Australian policy environment and literature.

Overview of Australia

Australia may be described as a competitive, advanced market economy, which has weathered the recent global financial crisis relatively well. It has an unemployment rate of approximately 5% at the time of writing. It is a federal parliamentary democracy, consisting of six states and two territories, with the Australian Capital Territory accommodating Australia's capital city, Canberra.

Australia has a population of just less than 23 million people, living in the world's sixth largest country, in terms of land mass. This population is concentrated along the eastern and south-eastern coasts, with much of the inland area uninhabited. Nearly nine in 10 Australians live in urban environments. Australia has a relatively low birth rate (12.33 births/1,000) but a high net migration rate of approximately 6/1,000 migrants.

Australian higher education

The higher education sector in Australia consists of:

• • 39 universities, of which 37 are public institutions and two are private;

• • one Australian branch of an overseas university;

• • three other self-accrediting higher education institutions; And

• • non-self-accrediting higher education providers accredited by State and Territory authorities, numbering more than 150 as listed on State and Territory registers. These include several that are registered in more than one State and Territory. (DEEWR, 2011)