Will an AVCC Divided be Able to Stand? (August 31, 2005)

    A couple of weeks ago TFW reported on a significant difference of opinion between the Vice-Chancellors representing the Group of Eight (Go8) universities and many of the other members of the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee (AVCC) regarding the design of the mechanism for the distribution of federal funding in support of university research, i.e. what should be the format of the proposed Research Quality Framework¹.

Then the former Vice-Chancellor of The University of Sydney (1967-81), Sir Bruce Williams, in launching his latest book gave the AVCC a strong back-hander, "The trouble with the AVCC is that it's got so large and there are so many different interests involved."² He called for an independent universities commission to be formed which should advise the government on higher education policy and offer critical comment. "I think that's become doubly important because since the Dawkins changes [the 1988 unified national system] the federal minister has become in effect director-general of higher education and that's dangerous."

Now comes a report by Dorothy Illing in today's Higher Education Section of The Australian that at the recently concluded annual retreat of the AVCC "At least 15 of the 38 vice-chancellors did a no-show. Some sent understudies. Others didn't bother."  The no shows included three of the vice-chancellors from the Go8, Glyn Davis (Melbourne), Gavin Brown (Sydney) and John Hay (Queensland) who chose to attend the the Australian Leadership Retreat (ALR) on Queensland's Hayman Island.

The ALR purports to bring "together the leaders from business, government, the public service, academia and the greater community to dialogue the key challenges facing Australia locally, regionally and globally."  It's the most high profile undertaking of the ADC  (Australian Davos Connection) which was founded in 1996 by the Australian members and participants of the World Economic Forum held annually in Davos, Switzerland.

So far  neither do has issued a media release.