President’s Report, 1997

1997 could reasonably be described as a difficult year for the mathematical community in Australia. Despite systemic difficulties faced by the Australian Mathematical Sciences Council (AMSC), we are able to report progress on several important fronts. Much remains to be done, however, before the mathematical sciences enjoy the recognition they deserve in the Australian community.

I’d like to start my report by describing some of the difficulties that confronted us. I’ll then turn to the major issues that we tackled, and describe ongoing and planned activities.

Difficulties that confronted the AMSC

The political climate in Australia (education and research)

Short-term thinking and belief in the predominance of market forces play a big role in shaping the Australian political climate. Concomitants are the withdrawal of government from service provision, imposition of a ‘user pays’ mentality, and a failure to invest for the future. I see these as serious systemic problems that have profound effect on the mathematical sciences as well as many other issues in our lives.

The Government applied a serious funding squeeze to the university sector in Australia in 1997. The introduction of differential HECS fees came at a time when

• the mathematical sciences were already not attracting enough good students

• high school mathematics education was under serious pressure

• not enough qualified and keen mathematics teachers were being trained for the future

The situation was sufficiently serious for the AMSC to release two Press Releases (8 May, 9 October) describing negative indicators for the future of the mathematical sciences profession in Australia. Both Press Releases provoked media attention.

The political climate in Australia (Industry R&D policy)

The Government also reduced the tax concession for industrial R&D from 150% to 125%, and commissioned several major reports on the funding of industrial R&D in Australia. My impression is that there has been a sharp diminution in the level of industrial R&D in Australia, at a time when any diminution should be avoided. It is of course well known that Australia’s level of industrial R&D is very low compared to most OECD countries. The government’s tough stance on R&D affected the major R&D institutions (CSIRO, CRCs), and had a flow-on effect to the mathematical sciences.

Global trends

Advances in IT mean that, increasingly, services will be provided globally by the groups best able to do so. Examples include the provision of R&D services into Australia by transnational companies, and the provision of transnational educational services by electronic means (with obvious consequences for Australian educators). Not all governments in the world have such a dry interpretation of education and R&D as the Australian government, and, in my view, the government’s policies will lead to market failure and a need for future increased government investment in education and R&D.

Activities of the AMSC during 1997

Despite these systemic difficulties and the heavy workloads of the AMSC Executive, we can point to progress on a number of important issues this year.

Representation on FASTS

Representation on the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies (FASTS) is the main raison d’etre of the AMSC. FASTS has been active this year, particularly with the development and promotion of policy documents. FASTS has an excellent www home page, and is effective in its day-to-day activities. The AMSC has taken its responsibilities to FASTS seriously, and Jan Thomas (Vice President of AMSC and FASTS Board Member) has been an influential advocate for the mathematical science community.

FASTS is currently revising its policy documents and AMSC members will have opportunity for input. FASTS also will request input to its ‘top 10’ issues before Christmas.

Publicity

See the attached document with a list of publicity achievements. Highlights include

• Release of a Press Releases to call attention to negative indicators for the health of the mathematical sciences in Australia.

• Several newspaper articles by members of the AMSC executive to describe unfortunate developments for the mathematical sciences in Australia.

• Several radio interviews emphasizing the previous bullet point.

Representation to the Government

The AMSC executive took a leading role in four meetings with the federal government, particularly Dr Kemp when he was Minister for Schools and Vocation Training, and now that he is Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs. Meetings have also been held with Dr Kemp’s replacement, Senator Ellison, and with government bureaucrats advising these ministers.

Contributions to the development of numeracy benchmarks

The government is pushing ahead with development of numeracy benchmarks for year 3 and year 5 students. Whilst the introduction of literacy benchmarks has been supported by educational research, the same cannot be said for the numeracy benchmarks. Further, the process to develop the numeracy benchmarks has not allowed for adequate consultation with teachers and mathematics education researchers. The AMSC has taken a major role in ensuring the numeracy benchmarks are of sufficient quality that they can be supported by the professional mathematical sciences community in Australia.

As a result of representations by the AMSC, a two day meeting is to be held in Melbourne in December. Jan Thomas is liaising with the Curriculum Corporation, DEETYA and the president of AAMT in regard to participants who will be limited to 10-12, mainly with expertise in primary mathematics.

Development of a www page for AMSC

We have established a respectable and informative home page for the AMSC on the internet (URL: http//www.dms.csiro.au/noel/amschome). As with all web pages, this needs regular attention and updating. It incorporates links to all relevant societies in Australia.

Structural changes to the AMSC

The AMSC has had several structural changes this year, namely the merger of MELA (Mathematics Education Lecturers Association) with MERGA (Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia). I’m pleased also to report that ASOR (Australian Society for Operations Research) has joined AMSC. We are also investigating ways by which the Institution of Engineers, Australia, and the Bridging Mathematics Network can become closer involved with AMSC. To this end, we introduced several minor changes to the AMSC constitution to cater for associate membership. The Australian Mathematics Trust has already indicated it will take advantage of this form of membership.

Science awareness money

AMSC was involved in several bids for funds under the government’s Science Awareness Program. Regrettably, the bids under this Program were far in excess of what the government could fund, and the AMSC’s proposals, along with many other worthy proposals, were not funded. It is in our interest to support (and occasionally coordinate) bids for funds under this Program. A related activity worth pursuing is the government’s Science Festival funding., although this too has not been fruitful for us so far.

Publication for the Symposium, 23 February, 1996

This activity has not been concluded, although it is tantalisingly close to fruition. Dr Moore of Macquarie University has edited the papers presented at the 23 February 1996 symposium on the mathematical sciences. The document is close to camera ready form. Further, we have secured some support from various bodies for a modest initial print run, and we have developed a production plan for the publication. However, pressure of work on the AMSC Executive means that deadlines for the publication have slipped on many occasions. If it is to be produced, then it surely must be concluded in the next couple of months.

Other business to report

It’s appropriate to report that the various professional bodies comprising AMSC have recorded several highlights. Without attempting to provide a comprehensive list, I highlight

• the successful conference staged by MELA and MERGA in New Zealand in mid 1997

• the fact that ANZIAM (a Division of AustMS) has been awarded the rights to host the major quadrennial applied mathematical meeting, worldwide, in Sydney in July 2003

I’ll conclude my report with various observations:

• AMSC, as an umbrella organisation, carries out its work with very little funding and through the volunteer activities of a small group of dedicated individuals. I believe that the mathematical community in Australia is well-served by this small group.

• Despite our small size, we can justifiably point to good achievements (as documented above) during the past year. Of course, much remains to be done.

• I am profoundly concerned about the future of the mathematical sciences as we know them because of the policy settings of the present government and because of powerful global and technological trends that we seem unable to resist.