Minister for Education Talks the Talk -- What Next? (December 9, 2009)

In an opening address entitled "Transition, Retention and Progression Forum" at Monash University's Caulfield Campus today the Minister for Education, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Minister for Social Inclusion and Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, told her audience: "Today I want to talk to you about our ambitions to drive a better quality student experience through a focus on teaching quality and the reform program we are putting in place to reward universities that focus on this."

Then referring to the under resourced state of Australia's university sector Ms Gillard said:

[T]he Government has... a firm commitment to quality and excellence which I want to outline in more detail today.

As a Government we will be using three key drivers to improve quality in the sector. These are:

• Performance funding;
• National regulation through the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency; and,
• Transparency.

After a decade of neglect, quality in some of our higher education providers has been negatively influenced by several factors:

• Low levels of indexation have meant that public subsidy to the sector had stagnated – an issue that we are addressing through the adoption of a new, higher level of indexation;
• Lack of meaningful national regulatory arrangements to ensure that higher education providers met consistent minimum standards;
• Lack of financial support to grow has resulted in inadequate facilities in many institutions and growing staff to student ratios; and
• Removal of compulsory non-academic fees has also reduced the capacity of universities to offer a broad range of services which are integral to the university experience.

While graduate surveys tell us that the majority of students are broadly satisfied with their experience, more specific measures of quality reveal a higher level of dissatisfaction with teaching quality, workloads, the learning community, course goals and standards, assessment and learning resources.

These findings suggest that outputs and outcomes are being achieved despite in many cases poor quality interactions with students, poor feedback on assessment and the lack of social interactions within the university community.

Comparisons with the experience of students in UK and north American universities are also revealing.

Relative to the UK, Australian graduates from the class of 2006 rated their university experience lower on every measure bar one – which related to satisfaction with the feedback they received. 

Relative to the US and Canada, Australian graduates from the class of 2007 rated their university experience lower on every measure – with no exceptions. 

Discrepancies in ratings between Australian graduates and their UK and north American counterparts appear to be greatest in those areas most impacted by large student – staff ratios, such as

• Student and staff interaction
• Enriching educational experiences
• Whether staff are good at explaining things
• Whether teaching staff make subject material interesting for students

What follows is something of a disappointment, "However, driving improvements in quality will not be achieved by funding alone", as though implying that current funding is being dealt with satisfactorily. For example what data have the government that student/staff ratios are decreasing and that the over abundance of casual teaching staff is being addressed?

Ms Gillard's proposal is somewhat reminiscent of that of the Queen of Hearts:

'Let the jury consider their verdict,' the King said, for about the twentieth time that day.

'No, no!' said the Queen. 'Sentence first - verdict afterwards.'

'Stuff and nonsense!' said Alice loudly. 'The idea of having the sentence first!'

'Hold your tongue!' said the Queen, turning purple.

'I won't!' said Alice.

'Off with her head!' the Queen shouted at the top of her voice. Nobody moved.

The Minister for Education is offering: "If universities achieve their targets, they will receive performance funding. The funding available to the sector as a whole will be $135 million per calendar year from 2011. The Government will establish sector wide targets and indicators of performance which reflect the Rudd Government’s dual objectives of extending reach and enhancing quality."

In short stick first, carrot afterwards.

How about trying it the other way 'round. It'll cost more initially, but you'll get far better results. Just imagine an ARC research grant scheme where researchers are told, do the research and if it turns out as we wish we'll pay for it.

Note added December 11, 2009:

In the discussion paper released today by the Minister for Education the following paragraphs show that ~$90 million will be provided for proposed initiatives in 2011.

     The indicators proposed in the following section will be used to negotiate performance targets with universities in the latter part of 2010. The targets will be detailed in the compacts that each university will enter into with the Australian Government.

     In 2011, those universities that have negotiated and agreed targets with the Government will receive a student load� based share of more than $90 million. This represents a facilitation payment. It is designed to help universities to position themselves to meet the targets into the future.

     In 2012, universities� performance against the relevant targets will be assessed by TEQSA [Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency]. Universities that are judged to have met their targets will receive performance funding.

Click here to download a PDF copy of the discussion paper An Indicator Framework for Higher Education Performance Funding.