Almost 100 Days in Office and She Ain't had a Glove Laid on 'Er. (April 17, 2006)

   One of the pleasant consequences of following a Minister like Brendan Nelson as head of the Department of Education, Science and Training is that unless you're a dead ringer for Godzilla, your arrival will have been greeted with sighs of relief by those you're responsible for minding and perhaps even representing.

The Australian's Samantha Maiden has a glowing 1350 word celebratory piece of Julie Bishop's first "80 days in office".

JULIE Bishop's idea of jet lag recovery is an early morning 5km run into parliament. Her staff members are slightly incredulous at her passion for fitness after a late-night flight from Perth to Canberra, but her methods make perfect sense to the nation's new Minister for Education, Science and Training.

 

"I've always been a runner," she tells Inquirer. "I find that it's a fantastic way to start the day. The longer I run, the better my thought processes are, I think. It's something to do with the oxygen."

So far, as Maiden suggests, Ms Bishop has used the "softly, softly" approach and there are hints of her foregoing the obsession for micromanagement that Dr Nelson evinced, although it would be a mistake to imagine the good doctor's prescriptive approach wasn't encouraged by the Prime Minister and influential senior members of Cabinet.

Ms Bishop told Maiden, "Step by step, I believe we can give universities a lot more flexibility in how they manage their affairs. I obviously support the notion that we ought to be able to have, in addition to [publicly subsidised] HECS places, an opportunity for people who desperately want to do a course and have just missed out ... they should be given the opportunity to. So I believe in full-fee places," which seems to translate to "if you got the gelt, you can get a place", which is not quite comparable to Harold Shapiro's, "anyone who meets Princeton's entrance requirements will not miss out because of  a lack of means". Or have we missed something?

Gavin Brown, Vice-Chancellor of The University of Sydney, who referred to Brendan Nelson as "The Frog Prince" back in October 2003 has yet to voice a public opinion with regard to Ms Bishop's performance, but The Australian National University's V-C, Ian Chubb, says Maiden, "believes her legal training is instructive in gauging her approach to the new portfolio compared with Nelson, a former general practitioner. 'Different professional training will give people a different approach,' Chubb says. 'Doctors tend to see a range of symptoms and diagnose treatment. Lawyers see a case and drill down for evidence. She's analytical, sharp and gets on top of issues quickly.' Which seems to say he's got little idea of just how supportive of higher education and research she will be.

So, will she be interested and effective in reversing the government's undermining of Australia's universities and incompetence in handling the nation's research infrastructure and staffing. Admittedly, it's early days, but so far there are no substantial signs that Julie Bishop will. While it's unlikely that the imminent May budget will be indicative, her handling of the Research Quality Framework fiasco as well as the matter of the claimed gagging of CSIRO scientists should give some clue.

Recently the minister has referred to the $7.5billion overseas student market and has suggested that it could be under threat "unless universities adopt reforms including an American-style graduate degree structure to ensure university degrees are recognised internationally."

Ms Bishop has also noted the "Bologna Reforms" and said Australian universities must pay heed to them.

In June 1999, 29 European Educational Ministers signed the Bologna Declaration for the development of a European University Community and for the strengthening of Europe's competitiveness as an educational location. The reforms include among others:

• Development of a system of easily understandable and comparable diplomas (diploma supplement)

• Development of a structured system of study diplomas (undergraduate = Bachelor Diploma / graduate = Master Diploma)

• Introduction of a performance point system (credit points according to the European Credit Point Transfer System (ECTS) model)

• Promotion of mobility by eliminating mobility restraints

The University of Zürich has produced a useful web page explaining the Bologna Reforms.

What's not clear is from where the resources will be derived to implement Ms Bishop's marching orders for our universities.

On the other hand she has demonstrated an ability to avoid confrontation but then so did the Union Army's General George McClellan.