The PICSE business model is designed to encourage the pooling of funding from government, education institutions and industry in order to create an organisation with sufficient critical mass to influence large numbers of school students over time. No individual industry or education institution has the capability by themselves to match PICSE potential. University partners have agreed to a cash commitment between $50,000 to $100,000 pa which is matched by PICSE National funds derived from the DEEWR and national research organisations.
The Primary Industry Centre for Science Education (PICSE) is a two-tiered structure for delivery of the program, based on a National Centre, and a number of Activity Centres each located at or linked to a university.
a) The National Centre establishes Activity Centres and the template they use to deliver the Russell Model, authorises an Activity Centre (AC) to implement the Model within a particular region and ensures the integrity of the Model over time and space. The partners in PICSE are national investors including government, industry research organisations and large agribusinesses. National funding flows through the National Centre to the Activity Centres, to match funds allocated by the university and partners.
b) Each Activity Centre undertakes local delivery of the Model. The partners in an Activity Centre are the University, the primary industries and schools within the region and the State Departments of agriculture, primary industry and education. At the core of the Model is a critical focus on relationship-building and mutual support and learning amongst and between participating partners in industry, schools and universities.
The PICSE National maintains the integrity of the Russell Model by monitoring the Delivery, Innovation, Investment and Evaluation portfolios. The Delivery portfolio of the Model is subject to a rigorous qualitative and quantitative evaluation at all levels, to provide evidence of the achievement of the agreed outcomes or returns on investment. This Evaluation portfolio feeds back into a robust quality assurance process. The Innovation portfolio is charged with looking forward by piloting new activities such as Industry-Science Camps for Year 9/10 students, Science Investigation Awards for all ages of students and activities to bridge the gap between primary and high schools. The Investment portfolio has the responsibility of achieving the targeted minimum cash funding of $1.2m pa from national agribusiness, research centres, RDCs and CRCs.