Department of Education and Science (Australia) explained

Agency Name:	Department of Education and Science
Formed:	13 December 1966
Preceding1:	Department of Territories (I) – for education in the NT Department of the Interior (II) – for education in the ACT and Jervis Bay Prime Minister's Department – for the Education Division and the Office of Education
Dissolved:	19 December 1972
Superseding:	Department of Education (I)Department of Science (I)
Jurisdiction:	Commonwealth of Australia
Type:	Department
Chief1 Name:	John Bunting
Chief1 Position:	Secretary (1966–1967)
Chief2 Name:	Hugh Ennor
Chief2 Position:	Secretary (1967–1972)

The Department of Education and Science was an Australian government department that existed between December 1966 and December 1972.

Scope

Information about the department's functions and government funding allocation could be found in the Administrative Arrangements Orders, the annual Portfolio Budget Statements and in the Department's annual reports.

At its creation, the Department's functions were:

• general education policy
• education research
• administration of various schemes of assistance for overseas students in Australia, particularly the Colombo Plan
• Australian activities in relation to UNESCO
• administration of scholarships for Australian students
• administrative assistance for the committee concerned with the development of the concept and scheme of advanced education in Australia
• science facilities grants to secondary schools both government and non-government
• secretariat for the Australian Research Grants Committee

Structure

The Department was a Commonwealth Public Service department, staffed by officials who were responsible to the Minister for Education and Science.