The education revolution and universities
9 February 2008
All of us in the higher education sector are awaiting the roll out of what the new Federal Government’s ‘education revolution’ means for universities.
I was present at an OECD conference last September when an OECD report was released that showed that Australia was the only OECD country to cut investment in higher education, whilst some of our leading international competitors were increasing their support by up to 49 percent.
Up to this time there had been quite a deal of national discussion about universities but in the lead up to, and in the period since the election, there has been relatively little said about major investment in universities.
The ‘education revolution’ focus seems to have shifted to a concern with schools and national curricula, in particular.
We do know that the Research Quality Framework proposed by the previous government has been abandoned, and we do know that some carrot-and-stick routine reporting is to be reduced or eliminated when complying with National Governance Protocols.
Over a year ago Jenny Macklin raised the prospect of university ‘compacts’ which were to provide templates for the funding of individual universities, allowing each the scope to be different, and thereby increasing diversity across the university sector.
This University could then seek funding for not only its teaching and research activities, but also for its innovation and engagement activities if we could demonstrate that these have a beneficial influence on community advancement.
However, in recent months not a great deal has been disclosed to expand on details that address the diminishing attractiveness of the sector to many school leavers in particular.
The higher education sector has unquestionably fallen behind its international counterparts and there is an urgent need for an ‘educational revolution’ to impact on university funding. Our infrastructure needs more investment, capital funds need to be more available, and academic salaries need to be made more competitive with the private sector, to mention only a few of our needs.
In this high growth area USC needs even more support and hopefully a locally born Prime Minister and Treasurer, along with Minister Gillard who was born just down the road from me in South Wales can together provide substantial support for this University as part of their ‘education revolution’ which we eagerly await.
Professor Paul Thomas AM is Vice-Chancellor at the University of the Sunshine Coast.