Group of Eight Releases Submission to Review of Australian Higher Education. (August 5, 2008)

Currently the Review of Australian Higher Education, Chaired by Emeritus Professor Denise Bradley is in the throes of processing submissions which "will be made available once they have been processed".

However, the Group of Eight has made its 20-page submission, Investing in All Our People, available online.

Its overall recommendation is a radical recasting of our current post-Dawkins blancmange, not dissimilar to that in effect in the US state of California.

One point seldom mentioned by Australian academe is that of the University of California's 10 campuses, 7 are ranked among the world's top 50 research universities by the Institute of Higher Education, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, starting at No.3 - UC, Berkeley (ANU ranks 57).

And in case you've forgotten the University of California system is a public institution with a combined endowment for the 10 campuses of US$9.61 billion.

It might be interesting to speculate what might happen if ministers Gillard and Carr got together and plumped for a University of Australia made up of 8 campuses under an administrative umbrella similar to California's, while a number of the remaining 31 universities would be considered more of less comparable to the State University of California (currently 23 campuses). The third tier of the California system is the 110 community colleges.

At the moment there is the bandying about of "systems" of universities which seems to be another term for Senator Carr's hubs and spokes, but systems or hubs and spokes and how it will improve tertiary learning and research has yet to be meaningfully articulated.

Perhaps university administrators as well as government ministers responsible for education and research ought to be reminded that universities are only as good as the staff they support.

Clive Lloyd, the captain from 1974-85 of the brilliant West Indian cricket teams was asked once what his secret was for producing such outstanding sides. He replied, "I just toss the ball to one of four guys, and tell the rest of them to spread out appropriately."

Here is the Go8 summation of their submission. It'd be interesting to know what Professor Bradley's personal reaction might be, she being the immediate past vice-chancellor of the University of South Australia, not one of the Group of Eight.  And of course there are those 31 public universities outside "the loop".