Australian universities are facing their second major upheaval in little more than a decade with a new education minister declaring the system of funding and higher education organisation unsustainable.
In a paper outlining future policy options, Brendan Nelson raises many more questions than answers. Although critics of the government have pointed out for the past six years that the main problem confronting the sector is inadequate government funding, Dr Nelson said there would be no more federal money until the system was reformed.
"It is time to take stock of where we are, where we want to go and how we intend to get there," he said at a press conference to release the paper. "We must have the maturity as a nation to now consider our policy options."
Dr Nelson said universities had a "fair way to go" in becoming more efficient. Some 20 per cent of courses on offer have fewer than five students enrolled while 4,200 units have only one student. He said the government had to ensure that every dollar invested in higher education was efficiently invested before additional funding could be provided.
Higher Education at the Crossroads outlines nine key agenda items that include reforming university funding, teaching, degree structures, academic working conditions, management and university specialisation.
It appears to support greater deregulation and increased diversity among universities, higher fees for students and increased flexibility in approaches, modes and settings for learning.
The paper argues that the "one-size-fits-all" funding arrangements provide few incentives for innovation and differentiation. Universities have largely converged to a predictable spread of teaching, research and research training at the risk of compromising quality and excellence.
The document will be one of five to be published over the next 12 months as part of what the minister called a "conversation with the community". Dr Nelson also announced a 21-member reference group "to guide me through consideration of the complex issues raised during the consultation process".
The group comprises seven vice-chancellors, members from three of the scholarly academies, a clutch of senior business leaders but no representatives from student organisations.
By bringing a significant proportion of the Australian Vice-Chancellors'
Committee on board - including its president, Deryck Schreuder - Dr Nelson has in effect silenced one of the government's most reputable critics.
But the National Tertiary Education Union and the National Union of Students attacked the group's composition saying it was unrepresentative of the wider higher education community.
NTEU president Carolyn Allport said that with the paper's emphasis on universities finding more sources of private funding, the government had "raised the white flag" and no longer accepted responsibility for ensuring universities were properly funded.
Kim Carr, Labor spokesman on science and research, said the proposals outlined in the paper would bring chaos and turmoil to the sector as well as exacerbate the exodus of researchers from Australia.
Senator Carr said the document reflected Liberal Party dogma. He said the government had admitted that 25 per cent of universities were recording operating losses and it was "an open secret" that the number could double by 2003. The discussion paper was a blueprint for increasing student fees and reducing the number of university places, he said.
"The report considers redirecting resources to two 'world-class'
universities at the expense of the remaining 36 public institutions," Senator Carr said.