National overhaul for unis

The Australian

23jan02

UNIVERSITIES are preparing for another national overhaul, after the new Education Minister Brendan Nelson yesterday opened the way for sector-wide reform.

The shake-up is likely to bring changes to university funding and administration and the way research is conducted. Higher education industrial reform is also on the drawing board.

Dr Nelson last night refused to divulge the nature of his proposals and said another formal review would be a "prescription for paralysis".

But said he expected a package of reforms to be finalised within a year.

"There seems to be a common view that there needs to be change and that universities will find it difficult to sustain increasingly high standards and meet the economic and social expectations of Australian society under the current arrangements," Dr Nelson told The Australian.

"Views range from 'We need $1billion a year more from the commonwealth government', right through to some quite radical proposals in relation to funding arrangements."

Dr Nelson favours having universities specialise in particular areas of excellence and in niches that are appropriate to their region.

But he said that the current funding arrangements make it difficult for them to do that.

Dr Nelson has recently received the financial statistics for each of the government-funded universities.

"Some are doing exceedingly well, some are surviving, and some are, I think it's fair to say, facing quite serious financial challenges."

The Government will also look at research funding, whether there is too much concentration of funds or whether they should be spread more evenly over more institutions.

Dr Nelson reiterated that there was unlikely to be more funding for universities in this year's Budget. "I wouldn't ask my colleagues to allocate more resources to universities, diverting them from other areas of important government programs while simply maintaining the status quo."

The federal Government's 1997 West review of higher education financing and policy has still not been implemented and is unlikely to be. But some of the rhetoric in it is likely to re-emerge in any national inquiry.

The higher education sector has been in a policy holding pattern for more than two years as budgets shrink and universities seek out more private revenue.

Former Education Minister David Kemp became disengaged with the sector after his deregulation blueprint created uproar when it was leaked in a cabinet submission in 1999.

At the time universities believed deregulation was still on the Government's agenda and would be introduced after an election.

While John Howard ruled out a full-blown voucher system, changes to the student fee structure are likely to be an outcome of any new system.

One possibility that has been proposed is to allow universities to set their own course costs and charge a fee on top of the current Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) level.

The Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee said yesterday it was positive Dr Nelson was interested in examining the various components of the university sector.

"The AVCC is also looking at the ways it can bring to the Government's attention its concerns about the sector," Mr Mullarvey said.

The university chiefs are preparing to fund their own independent review of the sector and have drawn up terms of reference.

Dr Nelson has met with vice-chancellors, unions and other interest groups since he became minister.

He said he would be looking for input from them and from the business community into any reform program. He was now taking advice on how to proceed in developing the reforms, but stressed nothing had been fixed.