National briefs

Australia moving up the innovation league Australia has improved one place to 20 in the second Economist Intelligence Unit innovation index. The survey weights countries according to direct innovation inputs such as R&D and broadband penetration, as well as other factors such as taxes and the labour market. The top nation – Japan – is assigned an index of 10. Australia’s current index is 8.50, up from 8.37 in the previous period. Libya and Angola share the wooden spoon at 1.44. The unit forecasts a further two-place improvement for Australian in the next survey period of 2009-13. Japan and Switzerland are projected to occupy first and second places, as they have since the survey began, while the US is forecast to continue its slide from third to fourth to fifth. South Korea is the big improver, moving from 15th to 11th in the second survey, a position it is expected to retain in the next period. Go tohttp://graphics.eiu.com/PDF/Cisco_Innovation_Complete.pdf Student visa fees to increase Foreign students wanting to study in Australia will have to pay an extra 20 per cent for their entry permits, reports The Australian. This translates to an increase for foreign students from $450 to about $540. Humanitarian arrivals, tourists and temporary residents who were subject to visa fee increases last year are exempt from the latest increases. But students, business people, skilled migrants and certain family categories will all contribute to the estimated $402 million in extra revenue over the next four years. There will also be a 10 per cent increase in the Australian citizenship application to $260. The additional revenue will help offset the cost of building several new embassies, including Bangkok and Jakarta, which are to be relocated to more secure areas. The Jakarta mission was severely damaged in a terrorist attack in 2005.