Go8 Chair, Paul Greenfield, Responds to the 2011/12 Federal Budget. (June 3, 2011)

 Professor Paul Greenfield, vice chancellor of The University of Queensland and current chair of the Group of Eight has issued a short statement in response to the bringing down of the 2011-12 Federal Budget. Being circumspect in his language he nevertheless sees it as something of a curate's egg.

One week before the Federal Budget I summed up my expectations for higher education as “treading water”. Given the tough economic circumstances and some pre-budget nervousness about areas including health and medical research, universities might now be feeling a little more buoyant than I had expected.

The Government has honoured its commitments to fund expanding undergraduate enrolments, even though the growth looks to be more bullish than originally expected, and as part of this, it has delivered on a promise of improved indexation of the funding. It has shielded the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council from the razor gang, and enhanced funding for mental health research. It also gets marks for doubling the loading for regional campuses, and maintaining the Education Investment Fund for five years.

Ministers Evans and Carr and their staff deserve our thanks for safeguarding these long-term investments in advanced human capital at a difficult time. Alongside the investments in universities, federal commitments on vocational education and training are significant for the creation of a more sustainable, diversified and cost-effective tertiary education system for the nation.

Sensibly, the Government has an eye to the capacity implications of the mining boom. But it needs also to think further out.

It is equally important to ensure that Australia can be competitive in the high quality stakes when we will have to rely on our minds as well as our mines. Giving serious attention to quality in education and research must be our priority. It will not be good enough to increase only the quantity of participation in education and training; the quality must be of international standard.

The Government’s next big test on university funding will be the base funding review. This will give it an opportunity to assert that it will do more than keep its promises, and will in fact make the investment needed for a globally competitive universities sector.