Universities' Shabby Infrastructure in Dire Need Says Tertiary Education Facilities Management Association. (October 31, 2008)

 Andrew Trounson reports in this week's Australian Higher Education Supplement that the Tertiary Education Facilities Management Association (TEFMA) estimates that tertiary education has a shortfall of  $1.8 billion to $2 billion for building maintenance and a further $2.5 billion is required to refurbish old buildings.

In addition University of Tasmania vice-chancellor Daryl Le Grew says about $8 billion would be required to demolish unusable buildings and construct new ones. In short he estimates the entire $11 billion Higher Education Fund "is needed to get the sector 'up to scratch'".

Professor Le Grew added: "If we don't invest now to build the infrastructure that is needed, then we are the ones who will be the third-rate economy with the third-rate set of universities. The Government could do a lot worse than invest a lot of the [Education Investment Fund, EIF) money in the universities in a three to five-year program of major construction across the sector."

Universities Australia chairman and Monash University vice-chancellor Richard Larkins says: "It would be an opportune way to stimulate the economy and it would be also an investment in Australia's long term-future."

So what is the probability of the Rudd government allocating an additional $2.2 billion per annum over the next five years to build up the universities' physical infrastructure?

Face it, it's not going to happen. And yet the TEFMA isn't even addressing the matter of staffing attrition which is taking place in the universities, the marked underfunding of university research and the estimated increases in student numbers over the coming years.

The Group of Eight, based on Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) population projections, has estimated the likely implications of demographic change on Australia’s higher education sector. They suggest that the number of Australians requiring a place at university is expected to grow by an average of at least 10,000 per year over the coming decades - simply as a result of expected population growth.

They project that: "By 2026 the sector will need to accommodate an extra 194,000 domestic students than currently, assuming similar proportions of each cohort attend as at present. By 2036 this will grow to 304,000 extra students. By 2041 the figure will be 351,000 and by 2061 - over 500,000 extra."

Of course if something serious isn't done about the quality and numbers of primary and secondary school teachers the Go8's estimate may be grossly exaggerated in that we shall have an increasingly under educated teenage population lacking the qualifications for university entrance, so:

  Always Look on the Bright Side