News & Views item - March 2009

 

 

The Gillard Carr-Nexus. (March 5, 2007)

Yesterday it was the turn of the Minister for Education, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Minister for Social Inclusion, and Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard to address the Universities Australia Higher Education Conference 2009 and today it was the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Kim Carr who addressed the 300 or so delegates.

 

Both addresses are available in full online 1,  2.

 

Here we reprint excerpts without comment - they allow interesting comparisons.

 

Minister for Education, Julia Gillard, MP Minister for Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr

With the Bradley Review of Australian Higher Education now released, read and thoroughly debated we can begin the process of change.

This is an important moment, not only for our students, academics and higher education institutions, but for the entire nation because our future prosperity depends in large part upon our success.

In an era when investment in knowledge and skills promises to be the ultimate determinant of national and individual prosperity, Australia is losing ground against our competitors.

Our academic workforce is ageing and many of our best are being lured overseas.

Australia has reached a critical juncture. As a nation we failed to make the boom years pay. We underinvested. We lived off the human capital accumulated in previous decades.

Senator Kim Carr, will be addressing the implications of the Cutler report on innovation and Professor Bradley’s recommendations on research in higher education.

The full detail of the Government’s response will be released in May at the
time of the Budget.

Today... I want to concentrate my remarks around the need for major structural reform of the Australian higher education system... we must focus on students, their experiences and pathways, the knowledge they gain, the skills they will use, the public good they will achieve.

A new approach is needed... [a]n approach that moves from government dictating and rationing the supply of university places to an approach where our task is to meet and fund the needs of Australian students.

Funding that meets the demands made by students, coupled with exacting targets, rigorous quality assurance, full transparency and an emphasis on equity.

I particularly appreciate the efforts of those who have tried to look beyond pleading the case of their institution to answering the question: what can be done to pursue the nation’s best interests?

[T]he prosperity of the nation overall is linked to our knowledge intensity and that as a result every single Australian has a stake in the quality of our higher education system.

[Higher Education] enriches our lives in ways economists and statisticians can’t measure but which philosophers have understood for two and a half millennia - by creating knowledge and nurturing the flowering of arts and literature.

Improved systems of teaching and research will give us the means to increase and to spread these benefits. The question is: how?

[O]ur ambition is that by 2025, 40 percent of all 25-34 year olds will have a qualification at bachelor level or above. Not just to have enrolled in higher education, but to have completed an undergraduate degree. Today that figure stands at 32 percent.

Reaching this goal is going to take an enormous effort, not just to lift enrolments but to engage and retain students by supporting teaching quality and enhancing the student experience. It is a challenge for every aspect of university life.

[A]ll Australian universities will be funded on the basis of student demand from 2012. This means that we will fund a Commonwealth supported place for all domestic students accepted into an eligible, accredited higher education course at a recognised public higher education provider. Universities will not receive funding for places they do not deliver.

The Government’s higher education policies are based on enduring principles including:
  * the importance of opportunity for all;
  * academic freedom and autonomy;
  * research that advances knowledge and critical thinking; and
  * access to university based on merit not ability to pay.

Removing the HECS price caps would be contrary to these principles...

The public interest requires our higher education system to be strong across the country including in regional Australia, our outer suburbs and growth corridors.

the Government will establish a national regulatory and quality agency for higher education. The regulator will accredit providers, carry out audits of standards and performance, protect and quality assure international education, streamline current regulatory arrangements to reduce duplication and provide for national consistency.

The measures we are taking – to fund the preferences and needs of students and to establish stronger public accountabilities – will place a considerable onus on our universities.

The future of Australia’s higher education system rests on its quality and on its reputation.

I am determined that quality improvements and the meeting of national goals will be achieved so the international reputation of our universities and the qualifications they issue will be among the best in the world.
What I see [in the offing] is a... vigorous and inclusive debate about how we want to live, how we want our society to work, and how we want our future to look.

A debate not just about procedures, but about values.
All of our public institutions, including universities, will be shaped by this debate – just as they’ve been shaped by the free market ideas that have prevailed over the past three decades.

What I’m looking for is a higher education system with the research capacity to solve our problems, expand our opportunities, and improve our lives.

The cohesion of our society, the health of our democracy, the strength of our economy, the vitality of our culture, the preservation of our environment, and the happiness of our people all depend on it.

Creating a university system that is equal to Australia’s needs and equal to the world’s best will require both cultural change and structural reform.

Each university will negotiate a compact with the Government defining its particular mission and describing how it will meet the government’s public policy objectives.

Excellence in Research for Australia – better known as ERA – will guarantee research standards and performance.

[F]unding for research must be based on demonstrated excellence and clear priorities that take into account national needs, individual curiosity, institutional capabilities, and the resources available.

[W]e are determined to increase our research effort

The Government’s response to the Cutler and Bradley reviews will detail a new approach to research funding, and measures to strengthen the contribution universities make to the national innovation system.

I believe we need to look at the adequacy and design of research funding in the higher education sector.

The current model does not address the real costs of research, does not encourage collaboration, and does not equip us to meet emerging needs.

Research funding must be strategically targeted and sustainable.
It must help us build critical mass and maximise returns on our investment – not least by concentrating resources on the things we are best at – as institutions, and as a nation.

We need to expand and replenish the research workforce. [While] [w]e are above the OECD average for researchers per thousand people in the workforce, [we are] well behind the world’s best...

We clearly need to give more young people the preparation and support they need to train as researchers. This will mean continuing to invest in school and undergraduate education to enlarge the pool of students qualified to pursue research careers.

It will mean continuing to monitor the incentives we offer our best and brightest to undertake postgraduate research.

Australia ranks last in the OECD for research collaboration between universities and industry. Our goal is to turn that around.

Researchers in Business will support the placement of researchers from universities and public research organisations in small and medium-sized Australian firms, where they will help to develop new ideas with commercial potential. This is a $10 million program...

All researchers should have access to the best infrastructure and the best minds in their field, regardless of where they are based.

The hubs-and-spokes model I have championed for some years is one way we can democratise access to resources and put those resources to optimal use.

Which brings us to what I believe should be our highest priority of all, and that is the pursuit of excellence. That’s why ERA is so important, and why I want to see it fully operational sooner rather than later.

The Government will respond to the Cutler and Bradley reviews as part of the budget process.

That response will be our base camp, but we will still have a long climb to the summit.

Our ultimate goal is a university research system that can mobilise innovation in every department of Australian life.