Brooks Atkinson's opening remark in his 1956 New York Times review of Samuel Beckett's 2 act tragicomedy Waiting for Godot. ^"... It is a mystery wrapped in an enigma. [E]xpect to be witness to the strange power this drama has to convey the impression of some melancholy truths about the hopeless destiny of the human race."
    Having now migrated to Oz, Vladimir and Estragon have taken over a choice park bench in Sydney's Botanical Gardens.

Let Vladimir and Estragon fill you in.

Vladimir: (Rousing himself from his afternoon nap and assuming a sitting position on his bench as Estragon approaches) Well, and what have you been up to.

Estragon: (Sitting down, and pulling off his right boot to examine the hole in his sock) Obviously more than you have. Been down to the pub talking with the cognoscenti.

V: Oh, the Nation's opinion makers, movers and shakers.

E: In a manner of speaking. Have you by any chance been reading the broadsheets lately or even taken in the electronically disseminated news and opinion?

V: As a matter of fact yes, people kindly drop current papers into the bin over there and I also go out and about; I stop at an Internet cafe. Learn all sorts of things eyeing off other people's VDUs.

E: And has the Minister for Science, Education and Training crossed your ken during your information gathering.

V: Indeed he has, in fact for a new boy he's getting a good deal of media play especially with slapping Malcolm Turnbull down and then promulgating the Higher Education at the Crossroads bit.
      Prospective PM material?

E: The Sydney Morning Herald's Michelle Grattan strongly implies he's got his eye set on the deputy leader's job when Howard moves on and Costello moves up.

V: And your mates at The Nelson's Victory ?

E: The same. They say his interest in the Education, Science and Training portfolio is primarily as a stepping stone toward 2iC to Costello.

V: Meaning?

E: Meaning the upward march of Dr. Nelson is first and being an advocate for education, research and development second. Just think where our Treasurer is coming from, and therefore the good doctor's public statements to date. Nature's comment after the first round of the French Presidential elections says it in one short phrase. "Needless to say, policies on science and innovation were largely absent from the electoral debate. Yet they are key to the economic and intellectual future of any modern country." I think you can toss higher education into the same bucket.

V: So what's wrong with that?

E: Oh, nothing if you subscribe to the government's posturing that Australian education (higher and otherwise), research and development are in good shape and any necessary improvements, such as they may be, are being well catered for; they just need some shuffling about. Or are we witnessing Brendan Nelson being told, "Don't look past the next two years, mate, if you want to get ahead. Building a world class university system to underpin learning in general and fundamental research just isn't a vote winner, and if it costs real money it's a loser."
    In short what's the more important, the Party or the nation.

V: Estragon, that's about as cynical as you can get.

E: Interesting you should say that, did you see what old Mal and Sir William Deane had to say at the degree conferring ceremony at the UTS a couple of days ago?

V: Enlighten me.

E: They both suggested that Australia was losing its way, and that our political leaders were being led by opinion polls rather than principle. They received a standing ovation. Of course that was from the starry-eyed students and "disaffected" academics.

V: Which political leaders?

E: Coalition and Labor, they were quite evenhanded. I don't think the Democrats were even considered.

V: That reminds me did you see Senator Carr's opinion piece in the Herald.

E: Yessss. And how did it strike you.

V: Apart from the political hyperbole which is blatantly populist there doesn't seem to be a constructive element in the whole of it. Here, check this out:

    "Perhaps most damaging, and least understandable, is the plan to single out two universities for premium funding for teaching and research - to set them up as world institutions. This blatantly elitist plan will be underwritten by the remaining 36 public universities, the ones that produce our teachers, engineers, IT professionals and accountants, our social workers and performing artists. At what social, economic and cultural price is this goal to be achieved? At whose expense?"

E: And I'm cynical? Alright, Vladimir, let's start there. For once we're in agreement, Carr seems to be saying that having outstanding research universities is un-Australian which really is unadulterated codswallop. He had a chance to really put it on the line that it need not be, it mustn't be either or. Put a proper balance with proper resourcing - but no, he winds up sounding like just another follower of prescribed party dogma.

V: But what about Nelson's discussion paper. Certainly Senator Carr's correct in that the apparatchiks in the Department put together anything but an evenhanded document. And to top it off they throw in 12 pages of "selected statistics." There is not one comparison with the situation in what we might consider our cohort nations.

E: And Carr doesn't focus on that or the lack of any independent analyses and that's critical.  What the Senator is doing is playing right into the Coalition's hands by furious hand waving. And they are past masters at the technique. Certainly I get the impression that from the Government's viewpoint it is essential that critically derived data remain unavailable, and 360 or so submissions to the Senate Committee didn't address that problem either. Doesn't it strike you that neither of the recent U.K. reviews of the British university system are even mentioned in Nelson's list of references. He refers to the Governor of the Reserve Bank, Ian Macfarlane's, comments on April 4^th calling on governments to stop the decline in the higher education system. Macfarlane quoted the Melbourne University V-C, you know, Australia no longer has a university that could be ranked in the world's top 100. He saw no reason to dispute that, he'd heard similar views from other academics, which he called "disturbing". Mind you he doesn't make any suggestions as to how the problem should be solved. The fact is he's got no more accurate and pertinent data than the rest of us. And I reckon that's the way the Government wants it.

V: Hey, that's a bit strong.

E: No it's not. This government's been in power since the 11^th of March 1996. Tony Blair's Government didn't get in until May 2, 1997. So tell me, Vladimir, why have two independent reports regarding the state of U.K. universities been made public first on March 25^th, Study of Science Research Infrastructure done by an independent consultancy and the other on April 21^st, the Roberts' Report, SET for success: The supply of people with science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills. Gareth Roberts is an Oxford physics professor.  Point being both focus on specific and serious short comings in the UK university system. And they are just the latest. Nothing comparable is available for Australia's universities. And Dr. Nelson's current exercise isn't going to change that.

V: And you're saying that they're more than hand waving exercises.

E: Yap! The first one goes into chapter and verse as to what has to be done to get the U.K. universities into shape for them to do their job properly. Nature summed up the findings as "Out of Date and Out of Shape."  Remember the Blair Government commissioned the report and published it. And it's quantitatively critical of the state of British universities. Read it, it's as different as can be conceived from what our Government's doing in obfuscation and avoiding getting hard data which could be used for critical assessments. The research infrastructure report makes very specific recommendations as to what's needed, how much and how to proceed. And I'm saying that's just the sort of information Dr. Nelson doesn't want available. I'll tell you one thing, no one is saying of the U.K. universities, as does Dr. Nelson of ours, look at all those capital assets, what a hide claiming they are in need.

V: Well, your wittering on about hand waving, go ahead, big shot, what's Tony Blair done that's so bloody marvelous.

E: Right, try this. The short bottom line from the Research Infrastructure Study was that despite recent injections of funds by the UK Government's Joint Infrastructure Fund and Science Research
Infrastructure Fund there is an urgent need for some £3.2 billion (A$8.7 billion) to fix crumbling university
laboratories.
    Allowing for the almost exact 3 to 1 population difference between the U.K. and Australia if, for argument's sake, conditions in Australia are neither significantly better nor worse than the study reports for Britain we'd predict an insured value of approximately $23.5billion for university research plant, plus equipment and contents of a further $7.2billion, i.e. over $30 billion. It's an interesting assessment. It by no means covers the total assets of British universities, yet the amount is in considerable excess (on a relative population basis) to the $22 billion in total fixed assets singled out by the Minister for Education, Science and Training to demonstrate that our universities are not in crisis. Nevertheless the report states clearly that the U.K.'s institution's are in urgent need of upgrading to the tune of £3.2 billion. Translated to Australian conditions that would be $2.9 billion just to upgrade university science research infrastructure, let alone anything else. That's the total allotted for the whole of Backing Australia's Ability. Now you go and see if you can find out just what Dr. Nelson will tell you. Oh, and while you're at it find out why the Opposition hasn't asked that and such like questions rather than issuing useless bombast.
    Now what the Blair Government will actually do to meet the problems delineated remains to be seen, but at the very least the British public, lay and expert alike, can have an informed debate.

V: Don't get your knickers in a knot, remember there is a 20 person reference group appointed by the Herr Doktor Minister.

E: Ah yes and it'll be deprived of pertinent independently obtained information just like the rest of us.
    Valdimir, when it's all over and who knows how much will have been squandered for the sake of the exercise, we'll still be able to ask, "And what's really needed to keep us from sliding further and further behind in the learning sweeps?" to which the reply will remain, "Aye, 'it is a mystery wrapped in an enigma'," and will the Government sigh and smile observing, "May it ever be thus."?

 Alex Reisner
The Funneled Web