Higher Education Review Process

Higher Education at the Crossroads: An Overview Paper

preface

In his prescient address to Harvard University in 1943, Sir Winston Churchill asserted that, ‘The empires of the future are the empires of the mind’.

Almost sixty years later, Australians have inherited an economic and cultural legacy built largely on the exploitation of natural resources in agrarian, land and labour intensive industries. But each day brings evidence of change that foreshadows a future as much based in knowledge as those industries so historically critical to our past.

The kind of Australia in which the next generation will live, to a large extent will depend on Australia’s institutions of higher learning – universities. That which will most influence and inform our future, is not what we know – but what we don’t.

It is now time for us as a nation to have the maturity to recognise that there is a need to meaningfully consider and conduct a debate of the policy options that lie before us in relation to reform to the way we administer, fund and support Australian universities. Our challenge is to conduct public discussion in a transparent manner free of the highly emotional and politicised language of the past.

Our success in no small way will determine the kind of country in which Australians will be living twenty-five years from now.

This discussion paper is the first in a series intended to stimulate both discussion and debate of the challenges facing Australian universities and the policy choices before us. Though the issues canvassed in this and subsequent papers do not represent government policy, they hopefully commence a process that should culminate at year’s end with a general consensus for consideration by government.

Fourteen years after the last major reforms to higher education with amalgamation of Colleges of Advanced Education with universities and the introduction of the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS), it is time to take stock of where we are, where we want to go and how we intend to get there.

What defines a university? To what extent do scholarship, teaching and research each mark a university as being such, and – why?

Who attends Australian universities, how many complete and why?

Should Australia aspire to have one or two universities ranked in the world’s top fifty, and if so, how can that be achieved within a policy framework that recognises simultaneously the increasingly onerous community service obligations being placed on regional institutions? Can funding arrangements appropriate to further strengthening the role of smaller regional universities enable innovation and specialisation within the sector?

To what extent can the Commonwealth work collaboratively with the States and Territories to improve governance arrangements that best serve the needs of students, staff and society generally?

Is it desirable and possible to build a framework for increasing private sector investment in university infrastructure as occurs in other countries? At the same time, to what extent is the commercialisation of intellectual property conducted in a rigorously efficient manner to the benefit of institutions, researchers, industry and Australia’s competitive potential?

How could government policy encourage specialisation amongst universities without financial penalty to them? Are there particular administrative burdens placed on universities by my department that could reasonably be removed to free up more resources for teaching?

In considering reform, consideration must be given to the critical importance of humanities, social sciences, languages, fine arts, literature and philosophy. These areas do not find it easy to source non-government funding though they play a key role in moulding our values, beliefs, the way we relate to one another and see our place in the world.

This Overview paper is not intended to exhaustively examine every issue of concern to the sector but to initiate debate.

I will appoint a reference group to guide me through consideration of the complex issues facing Australian higher education and the discussion papers that will be released over the next six months. The reference group will draw on the disparate interests within the university and business sectors.

Though the content of papers and policy options presented are not government policy, consideration of them will guide me in presenting any proposals to my colleagues.

To the ‘empires of the mind’ – to our future, we owe it to earnestly contemplate the policy choices before us.

The Honourable Dr Brendan Nelson MP
Minister for Education, Science and Training

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