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Australia's regions marginalised
15 November 2008
A recurring theme amidst the plethora of national reviews of aspects of higher education at present is that there are too many universities in this country. It’s usually a theme trotted out by those who are in some way aligned with the older sandstone universities. The arguments are so transparent : a reduction in the total number would of course enable concentration of more resources, especially for research, into ten or fewer large universities in capital cities.
They are arguments that have scant regard for the national interest, and particularly for prospective students in the regions. The regions would end up with fewer opportunities than city-dwelling students, who already populate universities in twice the proportion to their regional counterparts.
So as to look less blatant, the more recent arguments advanced for concentration, are reflected in the advocacy of ‘system’ models, for example, as in the U.S. where there are stratified systems, with feeder community colleges and different kinds of universities. That system has developed gradually in the U.S. for as long as their system of higher education has been evolving. It is based on a different culture, with a population disbursement that is quite different, and yet is imagined by some, as one that can be simply superimposed on Australia.
The results would produce regions that are more disadvantaged relative to their city cousins than now.
There is an urgent need to address pervasive regional disadvantage in this country, not least in universities. This does not mean the wastefully expensive proliferation of small campuses, but it does mean a reevaluation of funding criteria. All of the significant competitive funding pools have criteria that relate to track record of world-class performance, or to scale : the bigger you are, the more you automatically receive.
So little attention is paid to population growth, potential and regional need. Applications for funds to supply more health professionals in high growth regions are declined in favour of a telescope at a world-class university. Equity and regional needs are getting short shift with the crude national funding criteria – equipment more important than lives!
USC is emerging as one of the rising stars of the last decade, yet it is getting nowhere near the rewards for innovativeness, relevance, progress and responsiveness to regional need it deserves.
It is to be hoped that the current reviews will reflect the urgent need for national social justice and equity and not the loud voices of the GO8 acolytes.
Professor Paul Thomas AM is Vice-Chancellor at the University of the Sunshine Coast.