Australian opposition sets terms of post-secondary review

Australia’s opposition has sketched its vision for the country’s tertiary education system, saying that it wants transparent university funding and a “strong, competitive, diverse and sustainable” international education sector.

The Labor Party has revealed the terms of reference for a post-secondary education review that it has promised to conduct if it wins this year’s federal election, expected in May.

The inquiry will make recommendations on 13 areas including the “unique needs” of regional Australia, with a dedicated “regional and remote commissioner” to be appointed to guide the review.

It will also look for ways to reanimate the financially beleaguered further education sector. This will include ensuring that careers advisers place “appropriate value” on vocational education.

The inquiry, which bears similarities to England’s government review of post-18 education, will also be expected to bring forth a proposal for “an equitable, sustainable and transparent funding model” for Australia’s post-secondary education system.

The review’s parameters have been released ahead of shadow education minister Tanya Plibersek’s address to the Universities Australia higher education conference on 28 February.

The Labor Party has also pledged to restore the demand-driven university funding system, which was abandoned by the governing Liberal-National coalition in late 2017.

Labor has committed A$10 billion (£5.4 billion) to fund this pledge. Ms Plibersek has indicated that Labor could withhold funding from universities that admit underperforming students into teaching courses, or allow sexual harassment on campus.

She is expected to lay out further demands during her address to the UA conference, with The Australian newspaper reporting that funding may be conditional on universities’ contributions to social, cultural and economic development.

Margaret Gardner, the Universities Australia chair, said vice-chancellors believed that Labor had made an “unequivocal commitment” to the return of the demand-driven system.

“That’s what we’ve heard,” she told the National Press Club in Canberra. “That’s what we are expecting.”

Professor Gardner said that performance funding had been “tried around the world” but was “difficult to get right”.

“If you want to pick a tricky policy area, that’s a tricky policy area,” she said.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com