Richard Larkins: Having More Students Doing Second-Rate Courses at Under-Resourced and Second-Rate Universities Does [No One] Any Favours. (October 29, 2009)

The former vice-chancellor of Monash University, Richard Larkins, in talking to The Australian's Andrew Trounson said: "Having more students doing second-rate courses at under-resourced and second-rate universities does neither the students nor the country any favours."

The May budget committed more than $5 billion over four years for higher education and research. However, Professor Larkins told Mr Trounson that the new funding was largely directed at expansion rather than raising funding per student, and in his view substantially increased government investment was needed.

But: "Although desirable, it is unlikely that this will be delivered from the public purse," and the former vice-chancellor went on to say:"Despite the evidence that the private contribution to university education is already relatively high in Australia, the appropriate circuit breaker should be deregulation of university fees as well as (student) numbers, with appropriate provisions to safeguard equity concerns."

In response to Professor Larkins revoicing the plea for uncapping fees Mr Trounson reports: "A spokeswoman for Education Minister Julia Gillard rejected the assertion that fees would have to be deregulated to retain quality. 'The government has invested a substantial amount of additional funding in the tertiary and research sector that will not just arrest the decline in real funding that occurred under the Coalition but actually begin to turn it around.'"

Without any forthcoming cogent supporting data we're left with the not uncommon: "is not ... is to" uninformative colloquy.

One of the problems is that Australia's ministers of education really have had little idea of what top-flight research universities and liberal arts colleges are like. Perhaps Ms Gillard might consider that it's time she took some serious time to find out -- first hand.