Higher Education Review Process

Meeting the Challenges: the Governance and Management of Universities

foreword

Concern for the most efficient management and work practices in Australian universities should not be viewed as neglectful indifference to quality teaching and research. Indeed, without well-run institutions the academic pursuits within them inevitably suffer.

Central Queensland University’s submission to the Review perhaps said it best:

CQU’s overall flexibility, which is highly valued by its students and staff, is becoming stifled by external rules (and different interpretations of those rules), procedures, reporting requirements, funding arrangements, and employment restrictions designed for a past era.

At the heart of the problem are governance and management structures, which are in some instances more appropriate to the past than they are to serving the needs of Australia in the future. Boards, Councils and Senates require members who are there to be trustees for the university – to act always in the best interests of that university, rather than to be representatives of specific constituencies.

Governments – both state and federal are a part of the problem, and of the solution.

The Commonwealth, through my Department, requires of universities onerous reporting and acquittal data, not all of which I am convinced are necessary for quality education. Armies of university administrative officers collect and remit this information, frequently having to provide it in a different form and at a different time to their State or Territory government.

Dual sector institutions are most adversely affected by these reporting burdens. The resources used in meeting these requirements could be invested in teaching and scholarship.

While the Commonwealth principally funds universities, State governments are responsible for enabling Acts and the financial regulation of universities. Including HECS, the Commonwealth provides 63.2 per cent of university revenues. States contribute 1.5 per cent of revenues but in total remove over $100 million more in payroll taxes than they contribute.

There are now over 300 commercial entities operated by Australia’s public universities. Royalties, trademarks and licenses deliver 0.16% of university revenues – a further 5% is sourced from contract consulting. If these important activities are to flourish in a sector vital to our future, we will need national consistency in legislation that regulates the commercialisation of intellectual property.

As the CQU submission also observed, “...it would appear that some state governments are restricting entrepreneurial freedom in an effort to make universities behave more like government departments”.

Work practices are important to any environment. In many cases it is the selfless commitment and extremely hard work of academics that delivers a consistently high quality and meaningful educational experience to students. However there appears in the university sector to be a certain sameness to reward, irrespective of hours worked and outcomes achieved.

How do we better recognise and reward those staff who deliver, rather than treating them all the same irrespective of performance? At one institution I was told, “I work my tail off. I love my work and I really try to see I’m here for these kids. But why is it that the guy in the office two down from me turns up three days a week but gets paid more just because he’s been here 20 years?”

One academic who contacted me from the graduate management department of a large university said, “We desperately need more money in this sector. But I want you to know that things can and should be run more efficiently here. You should view reform as a two way street. We as a sector need to recognise and face modern realities and reform. You need to equally invest in us, because in the end it is the future of Australia.”

These and other issues canvassed in this paper will challenge many readers. But they are central to our aspirations for a world-class university sector – by all measurements. 

Credit should also be given to the thousands of academic and non-academic staff who on a daily basis deliver for their students and their nation. They do this frequently in spite of the current funding and policy framework, not because of it.

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

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This page was last updated on Monday, 04 August 2008

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