The Bradley Review Under a Critical Eye. (April 20, 2009)

Jenny Stewark writing in today's Canberra Times casts a critical eye over the practice of governmental reviews, and particularly those of the current incumbents.

With regard to the Bradley Review of Higher Education she first points out that released late last year it has been "broadly endorsed by Minister Julia Gillard in a series of speeches in March."

Dr Stewark then makes these wry and perceptive observations:

[I]n reading the Bradley review, you would never think that the Australian university sector had ever been inquired into before, still less that it bears the imprint of more than 30 years of federal government policy making.

For Bradley, it is as though the universities have no past, what matters is the kind of stylised critique that gives rise to recommendations. And what recommendations.

For connoisseurs of policy potpourri, the Bradley review has it all. For those who like targets, the review proposes a particularly hearty one: 40 per cent of Australians in the 25-34 age group to have a bachelor's degree by 2020.

For those who like markets, there is substantial deregulation: by 2012, funding is to follow student demand, and universities will be able to enrol as many students as they can attract into their courses.

For those who like regulation, there will be a system of national accreditation for all universities, administered by a new regulatory and quality agency.

For those who like negotiated arrangements, there is a requirement that each university will enter into a compact with government, in which it sets out what it expects to achieve in key areas. And for those who like cooperation, there is an emphasis on improved flow-through from TAFE to the university sector.

No one appears to have asked how all this (if it is ever implemented) is supposed to fit together. For the universities, the sensation will be a bit like being force-fed and strangled at the same time. On the one hand, if the Government's incentives work, there will be many additional students wanting places. On the other, the level of funding per student is likely to be too low to fund the staff and support services that will be needed if quality is not to be compromised.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Jenny Stewart is Associate Professor in Public Policy, School of Management & Policy, Division of Business, Law & Information Sciences University of Canberra.