Does the Sword of Damocles Hang Over Australian Education? (May 23, 2013)

 Simon Marginson yesterday told The Australian: "The Coalition's decision [not to support the Gonski school reforms while leaving in place the $2.3 billion in cuts to universities] will hit schools and higher education at once. If we want to meet the challenge of the Asian Century the last thing we should do is undermine the local knowledge economy... [it's a] shocking signal to send out."

Professor Marginson, Professor of Higher Education at The University of Melbourne and head of the Centre for the Study of Higher Education, went on to say: "What a bad way for the Coalition to begin its term in government. Mr Abbott does not have to go down this path. He is aware of the issues at stake. Now is the time to ask does he really want to do this?"

Professor Marginson's comments are triggered by the Opposition leader's remark in his budget reply address that if elected his government: "reserves the option to implement all" funding cuts announced by Labor while saying he would not proceed with "a so-called national education system... With the rest of the world stepping up its investment, it is exactly the wrong time to de-invest in national education and research capacity. China, [South] Korea and Singapore already have higher levels of school student achievement in the OECD PISA comparison of performance than does Australia, especially in maths. In the last 10 years this gap has widened. And the best research universities in Singapore and China are stronger in research quality than all Australian universities, as measured by citation rates."