News & Views item - February  2005

 

 

Is the Real Glyn Davis Standing Up? (February 21, 2005)

    "If Brendan Nelson [the Federal Minister for Education, Science and Training] can articulate what he wants to do with the authority he is seeking [as regards his plan to take over the states' responsibility for universities], he will be in a stronger position to argue the case." So the Australian Financial Review's Bill Pheasant reports an opinion voiced by the newly installed Vice-Chancellor of The University of Melbourne, Glyn Davis. And continues that Professor Davis believes that so far the minister's record of imposing onerous red tape on universities doesn't support has takeover bid.

 

Furthermore, Professor Davis continued, "The notion that somehow rationality requires that this all be concentrated in one level of government isn't a strong case, and the notion that there are onerous regulations on universities that will be resolved by this isn't convincing either. There are onerous regulations, and they are almost all commonwealth."

 

If that weren't scathing enough Melbourne's V-C viewed Dr Nelson's reforms such as giving universities the ability to raise Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) fees by up to 25 percent as "making [the universities] take responsibility for a price rise that previously would have been imposed by the commonwealth. It isn't a fundamental reform of the system," and continues, "Nelson, in a sense, has opened up some possibilities, but it is hard to discern a clear direction in the reforms. They don't all flow one way. You can't characterise them as deregulation, or even commercialisation."

 

Professor Davis then tells Bill Pheasant, "...I think there is a strong case about how national regulation of the system could produce more diversity and flexibility in the system. But those changes would seem to run counter to the tenor of the changes we have seen to date, which in general is more about micromanagement than about flexibility."

 

Just how you want to interpret that last one liner is up to you. You might think it's code for Nelson doesn't give a stuff for the well being of higher education he just wants... in twenty-five words or less.