News & Views item - September 2005

 

 

National Strategic Principles for Higher Education -- Step Two. (September 18, 2005) 

    On 8 December 2004, shortly after Brendan Nelson was reappointed Minister for Education, Science and Training, he advised all Vice-Chancellors "that the Government is developing a set of National Strategic Principles to provide a framework for Australian Government decisions and investment in the teaching activities of the nation’s higher education institutions," and listed four specific dot points which would be subject to those principles:

The principles will provide a framework within which the Government (and, ideally providers themselves) will consider national, State and broader regional needs, workforce needs and priorities, supply and student demand, demographic changes and institutional sustainability.

Last week the Minister published a fourteen page paper Attachment A, Draft -- National strategic principles for higher education. It restates the  four "themes" of, sustainability, quality, equity and diversity that were expressed in Our Universities: Backing Australia’s Future and adds choice and national consistency.

 

The draft is written in such a way that it allows for  myriad interpretations and as is usual in such cases the devil will be in the, as yet to be enunciated, detail.

 

But the 9 principles laid down are suggestive of impending governmental gross, heavy-handed, top-down micromanagement on the one hand while distancing itself from the provision of adequate resources.  The Draft opens with:

Higher education contributes to the nation’s economy and society by enabling individuals to maximise their potential, both in a personal sense and in terms of their capacity to make a productive contribution to the community. Higher education providers build the skills and knowledge base needed for a vibrant, innovative and internationally competitive economy. Higher education also contributes more broadly to the social and cultural well being of the community and to the understanding and management of our natural resources and environment.

It then informs the reader that "[t]he Australian Government provides 98% of public funding for higher education," but omits mention of the decline in the percentage of public funding to the nation's public universities since the Coalition took power in 1996.

 

What is at stake is indicated in the final paragraph of the Introduction:

The national strategic principles deal mainly with Commonwealth supported places and course provision funded through the Commonwealth Grant Scheme, but may also inform other programmes under the Higher Education Support Act 2003 (HESA) such as the Capital Development Reform programme as appropriate.

Dr Nelson's Nine Strategic Principles for Higher Education for Australia
1. The higher education sector should support strategies to meet Australia’s future economic and social needs in a fast changing global context. Industry must be given a greater role in the design of higher education provision. The need to address the nation’s skills shortages must be given a high priority.
2. Higher education providers should collaborate with other education providers, particularly the vocational education and training sector, business, industry, research agencies and communities to achieve the best outcomes in teaching and learning.
3. Discipline areas of national importance will be protected where they are of continuing relevance.
4. Higher education institutions should provide the necessary infrastructure for a quality learning experience.
5. Disadvantaged groups will be encouraged to participate in higher education.
6. The provision of higher education in rural and regional communities will be supported to increase participation in the regions while taking account of the need for a sustainable sector.
7. Higher education providers should diversify and forge distinct roles in areas of specialisation without undermining access to a range of courses to meet student needs.
8. Commonwealth supported places will be allocated to best meet the social and economic needs of the nation, to respond to reasonable student demand.
9. The broader national and regional contexts will inform decisions about individual higher education providers.

 

Just how, when and if it comes time, for the government of the day (GotD) to implement the "9 Principles" is of consummate interest. Where for example does this leave the study of the humanities. It appears to be something of an afterthought when the paper's opening paragraph ends with, Higher education also contributes more broadly to the social and cultural well being of the community and to the understanding and management of our natural resources and environment.

 

And how, to give just one example, will the GotD deal with the problem of the critical dearth in numbers of the nation's statisticians. Will it provide adequate additional resources for universities to refurbish their departments of mathematics/statistics to provide world class instruction, and do you get this without providing adequate research time and facilities to attract and keep the high quality of staff required? Or perhaps we'll just import statisticians from India and China as required.