Submission to the Review of Higher Education Financing and Policy

Directorate of Scientific Affairs of the Australian Psychological Society

On behalf of the research and professional community of psychologists, the Directorate of Scientific Affairs of the Australian Psychological Society wishes to make a submission to the Review of Higher Education Financing and Policy. We do so because we believe that psychology's dual role as a science and profession represents a viable model for other disciplines in universities, although the relative emphases may differ. It is this experience that we believe enables us to make a contribution to the wider issues facing higher education in Australia. We have chosen to respond to selected questions under guideline themes one, three, four, and five as these are the ones that, in our view, we are best equipped to address.

Theme one: The role of higher education in Australia's society and economy.

What social, cultural, economic and community functions does the Australian higher education sector perform?

The traditional purpose of universities is to seek truth and understanding. This purpose requires scholars to be equipped with advanced knowledge that enables them to review and improve upon established practices in order that progress and innovation can proceed. Currently, there are pressures for a stronger emphasis on the economic and community functions, but the distinctive feature of a university must relate to its retention of a strong base that is broadly scholarly in tradition, and which forms part of the social and cultural contribution. In this tradition, the higher education sector seeks to provide Australians with a broad, deep, and visionary knowledge of the basis of human civilization, thinking, and behaviour. It serves to enrich Australian society and culture in providing the basis for a dynamic and productive economy.

For each field of scientific and technological application, there is a corresponding array of basic pure science subjects whose connection with the economy is indirect but is indispensable. It would be inconceivable, for example, to maintain that medicine and engineering could progress without a basis in science and mathematics.

Psychology provides a good example of how a basic, general education in science is essential for those who contribute to the economy as professional psychologists. Education as a psychologist in Australia involves four years of study in laboratory based science combined with postgraduate study in the profession of research and teaching or in providing services as practitioners. Psychologists work in a wide range of areas. For example, they study cognitive abilities such as perception, language acquisition, problem solving, and reasoning. The applications include reading programs for children and the rehabilitation of stroke patients. Practitioner psychologists in the areas of clinical and organisational psychology treat conditions such as depression and stress using methods that have been tested experimentally. (In this respect, the economic success of psychology is clear. As shown in the 1994 Guldberg and Sivaciyan report for the Australian Psychological Society, The Economic and Social Value of Psychology in Australia:, there were 20,100 psychology graduates with bachelor and higher degrees in the 1991 Census. The estimated number in mid-1994 was 23,900. The estimated economic value of psychology in 1993-94 was $1,432 million expressed in current prices. This value grew by an estimated 9.8% per annum between 1985 and 1994, compared with an annual 2.8% for total GDP.)

What attributes will higher eduction graduates need to operate effectively in their personal and professional lives in this emerging environment?

Graduates need both the features of a traditional scholarly education as well as specific skills. An education where students gain an understanding of what has been accomplished in the past and what is possible in the future is essential to equip students to identify and question their role in a complex and changing world. Inspired by this tradition, students become articulate and confident in the future. Their generalist knowledge permits them to have insights into the context of rapidly changing technological specialisations, and to use science creatively to achieve cultural and economic benefits with the wisdom that results from the interaction between knowledge and experience.

Theme three: regulatory and administrative framework for higher education

How effective are existing accountability and reporting requirements in ensuring that higher education institutions effectively respond to the policy goals underlying public investment in them? What alternatives are there?

A greater balance between quantitative and qualitative measures of accountability. To maximise the contribution of the higher education sector, the role of government should be indirect, with its influence on universities being facilitative rather than controlling. Current levels of administrative accountability kill the very essence of a university in stifling the aim to seek truth and understanding. Accountabilities should be built into the universities through their roles in providing a service to communities, and through a responsibility for what happens to their students on graduation. Student choices already govern the viability of courses. Governments should understand factors affecting these choices, and help to ensure that students are informed in their decisions.

At the moment, Australian universities are rewarded for the numbers of students that enrol and graduate, the numbers of research grants obtained, and the numbers of papers published. While these measures are important, we propose that any review of accountability should consider more qualitative measures bearing in mind that, for example, one paper in a high quality journal that has a long-term national and international impact should be worth far more than twenty that are unlikely to be well read.

Affirming the primacy of scholarship. Government should explicitly affirm that scholarship in basic understanding of science is a prerequisite to professional and technological specialisation. Students are scholars who seek knowledge and cannot be regarded solely as customers who are purchasing a product or specialisation. Rather, a premature focus on specialist marketplace skills that dispenses with this knowledge is premature and may can serious jeopardise Australia's long-term economic future as those trained exclusively in such specialisations run the risk of being unable to adapt to changing conditions. It should also be recognised that, despite the attempts at cutting the costs of education through the use of the internet and multi-media, ultimately there is no substitute for human contact in teaching.

Theme four: financing higher education teaching and research training

Recognising that higher education provides a mix of private and public benefits, what

should be the balance between the private and public contributions? To what extent should the public contribution vary in terms of the financing of different levels of award and types of courses?

Public contributions. We believe that only through a explicit commitment to basic science can psychologists and other scientists gain the skills that are in demand from students and employers, and that basic science should continue to gain public support. A climate of stability in public contributions to the higher education sector is needed. There is no sense in having research universities in which the majority of staff and students do not have access to research funds for personnel or equipment. Cost-cutting in teaching and research staff may seem more "efficient" in the year it takes place but in both the short and long term the entire system becomes demoralised with staff remaining working less than their potential.

Private contributions. At the same time, there is an invaluable role for private contributions to higher education. Many highly successful companies have built their expertise with graduates having professional and technological specialisations supported by an education in science. These companies might be induced to contribute to higher education for two reasons: (1) to recognise the basis for their profitability and (2) to prevent market shortages.A system of tax incentives and disincentives might be used to ensure that this occurs, together with the student contributions that are already being received. This proposal goes beyond the industry based collaborative research schemes that are now in place.

Theme five: funding of higher education research

How effective is the existing system for allocating public funds for higher education research? How should the higher education research and research training funding framework and program structure be developed to: enhance the development of high level skills; optimise the contribution of higher education research to the broader innovation system.

Our response to these questions is similar to those that have been stated under themes one, three, and four. As research is inextricably linked with the effectiveness and funding of teaching, here we summarise and expand:

• The funding of basic scientific research as a prerequisite for technological and professional specialisation should be maintained and improved. With respect to psychology, these issues have been well documented in a recent ARC/Academy of Science review, Psychological Science in Australia , that was co-sponsored by the APS. We propose that psychology departments should receive adequate laboratory-based funding in order to keep pace with increasing numbers and to ensure innovative research and teaching in basic science.

• Explicit recognition should be given to the link between professional education and its foundation in basic science. Strong postgraduate research education must be maintained at an affordable level for students.

• To provide alternatives for students to attain research and professional competence, support is required for the initiative of providing competence in postgraduate work through a coursework route to a doctorate in addition to the submission of a research thesis. With respect to psychology, adequate HECS-liable places should be made available for postgraduate training via coursework masters and coursework doctorates

• be given to the research based introduction of information technology Support should into research teaching, recognising its potential strengths and limitations. and

• Research within the Australian higher education system should continue to cater for adult students whose experience contributes to wisdom and effective decisions.

• Greater infrastructure funding for research and teaching is needed.

• We forecast a growth of interest in science in Asia in the next ten years. Funding mechanisms should promote international collaboration, perhaps aiming toward the establishment of an Asia-Pacific Science Foundation along the lines of the highly successful European Science Foundation.

• Greater partnership with industry is needed in the provision of post graduate training at the masters and PhD level, through APA-I scholarships, and placement opportunities. Tax incentives and disincentives for industry support of research are needed that recognise the link between higher education and social and economic outcomes.

• There needs to be a balance between qualitative and quantitative indicators of research and teaching performance.

Conclusion

We maintain that, unless government makes a solid, explicit commitment to basic science teaching and research combined with postgraduate research education, Australian society and economy in 10-20 years will be left behind in quality of life and living standards. In the process of "globalisation", Australia should encourage a world-wide exchange of education within a tradition of scholarship.

Although we appreciate that the focus of the review is on strategic issues affecting the universities as a whole, we think that psychology offers an example of the impact of policy decisions on the effective functioning of at least one sector of the Australian higher education system.

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