"Let's Look at [Universities'] Principal Activity: Educating Undergraduates," Harrison Young. (September 7, 2007)

     Harrison Young is a director of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and member of the Committee for Melbourne higher education taskforce, university funding and governance. He has written an 800 word

Prime Minister John Howard (l) and Mr Harrison Young

 opinion piece for The Age "Education funding and regulation: by whom, for whom?" in which he opines that the principal business of universities is to educate undergraduates.

While not every academic might see it that way, and while the rumour persists that more than one administrator feels he could run his university far more effectively if only the staff and students could be eliminated, Mr Harrison's most salient observations come in his final three paragraphs.

Universities are hybrid institutions that straddle the boundary between the public and private sectors. In this they resemble banks, which do poorly under government control but are too important to a country's economy not to be regulated. Few bank executives anywhere in the world enjoy being regulated. And no intelligent regulators pick fights. Both sides prefer "consultation". A healthy relationship tends to be polite but awkward. That is probably the best the parties can hope for, no matter what changes are made in funding and governance.

There was a time when the financial sector was tightly regulated, here and in other countries. Then, gradually, people in both business and the government began to realise that these arrangements were counterproductive. Deregulation was a bumpy ride, but the results have been spectacular.

It is time to look at the basic questions: is federal control too great and too detailed? Is the time spent on "consultation" crowding out strategic thinking? Does the belief that the Federal Government will always provide just enough money to keep the universities solvent — but no more — discourage philanthropy, or state funding, on the grounds that "anything we supply will just reduce the amount Canberra provides"? Should federal money flow exclusively to students, with universities free to craft course offerings that will win in the marketplace?

A nod by Mr Young to the furthering of learning and research by universities as enhancing the nation's well being wouldn't have gone amiss, and his definition of the universities' marketplace could have proved enlightening, nevertheless his suggestion that what's good for the nation's banks would be good for its universities is an interesting observation.