Opposition to the Demolition of the Australian Learning and Teaching Council Gains Momentum. (February 2, 2011)

The Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) was set up to improve teaching in Australia's higher education sector by supporting high quality teaching. The Council awards fellowships and grants with that specific aim. ALTC Strategic Plan 2010-2013  is available online.

In a media release The Chair of the ALTC Board, Professor John Hay, expressed his serious disappointment with the Government’s decision. In his view it clearly contradicts earlier commitments to acknowledging the crucial importance of teaching excellence in higher education and rewarding the nationally and internationally recognised achievements of outstanding Australian university teachers: "The Government has taken the easy option of abolishing the ALTC. The savings to the government will be less than $22 million per annum but the damage to the higher education sector and student outcomes will be far reaching."

Bernard Lane writing in The Australian : "The government said winding up the ALTC from January would bring $88 million in savings over four years, helping to free up money for flood recovery. Ms Gillard justified the cut by implying that the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency [TEQSA] and My University website could pick up its work."

However, the interim chairwoman of the  TEQSA, Professor Denise Bradley told Mr Lane that she had not changed her mind about the value of the ALTC since she carried out her higher education review: "We thought it was a critical component of an intelligent approach to improving the quality of teaching."

Adrian Lee retired from UNSW in 2006 having been made Emeritus Professor but remains committed to ensuring the quality of the educational experience at Australian universities as a consultant in higher education. He has written the following plea as an ALTC awardee to his fellows. It deserves a wider audience:

As you are well aware one of the savings the Prime Minister has foreshadowed to help pay for reconstruction after the Queensland floods, is the closure of the ALTC from next year. I am sure you will agree this is a disaster in itself and will put University teaching back to where it was in the "Research Rules" days. Just as we were getting somewhere!

As a fellow ALTC awardee could I encourage you to write to whoever you think appropriate to protest this decision?