Tertiary Education

Teaching of the geosciences should be an integral element of tertiary level science courses and a sufficient number of geoscience departmenets should exist around the country to meet Australia’s needs for highly qualified geoscience graduates and researchers into the future. The Australian Geoscience Council therefore supports:promotion of geoscience teaching at all universities to at least first year level to foster the recognition of geoscience as a fundamental science, with particular attention given to those seeking to become secondary school science teachers, environmental and biological scientists;

• promotion of the need for a number comprehensive geoscience departments across the country witha critical mass of teaching and research capability to attract and educate students to meet the ongoing demand for geoscientists.
• fostering understanding by governments and university administrators that funding for geoscience departments must recognise the unique aspects and costs involved of providing quality geoscience teaching, such as field requirements and specialised equipment needs;