Submission to the Review of Higher Education Financing and Policy
The Business/Higher Education Round Table
Decisions taken as a result of this Review will shape the learning environment for Australians well into the next century. National wealth and welfare are at stake. Australia is likely to remain in the most dynamic geographic region of the world during the lifetime of today’s young Australians. Without a national vision and sufficient investment in our higher education system, Australia and today’s young Australians are likely to be marginalised as the region moves towards higher living standards and more advanced social and political structures. While Australians place great value on the personal award of higher education degrees, they under-value the infrastructure that makes those awards possible. Progressive relative decline in the value that society places on academics and the infrastructure that supports teaching and research illustrate the point. The Review will hopefully point to ways in which these negative trends and attitudes can be reversed.
- stimulate competition among institutions,
- ensure that institutions are equipped and encouraged to invest in new and more productive teaching and research methods,
- promote closer partnerships between universities and business (eg the further development of the CRC model and Mechanism C research grants).
Background:
The Business/Higher Education Round Table (the Round Table) was established in 1990 by a number of chief executives of Australian business enterprises, and the vice-chancellors of some of Australia’s leading universities, to advance the goals and improve the performance of both business and higher education for the benefit of Australian society. The Round Table now has 25 corporate members and 27 academic members. These corporate leaders and vice-chancellors meet several times each year to identify issues of importance to both sectors, to foster cooperation between the sectors at the highest level, to initiate and direct commissioned studies, task forces and committees in work programs which support the Round Table’s goals. Round Table operations are directed by a Board of ten members and supported by a small secretariat, managed by a full-time Executive Director.
The Round Table’s Mission Statement is appended as Attachment I, current membership is outlined in Attachment II and a list of publications and reports appears in Attachment III.
During the six years since its formation, the Round Table has raised cooperation between the business and higher education sectors, and the level of understanding of the interdependency between the sectors, to a new level. It has done this by commissioning a number of landmark surveys of attitudes across the sectors, covering chief executives and human resource managers, Vice-Chancellors, lecturers and recently employed students. From this work, a much clearer picture has emerged of preferred graduate attributes and attitudes. More recently, the Round Table has pursued a work program to identify issues and opportunities for collaboration to advance Australian research and development goals, including R&D project management and leadership, intellectual property concerns and strategies.
The Round Table recently nominated its future priorities and programs to include general business/higher education interaction; commercial partnerships in R&D; the training agenda; cooperation between Australian higher education and Australian business off-shore, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region; lifelong learning; and literacy standards.
This submission follows the major themes and issues set out in the Higher Education Review Committee’s published guidelines. It draws on the Round Table’s research and publications, with references included where appropriate.
Theme one: the role of higher education in Australia’s society and economy
The higher education sector plays a crucial role in Australian society and its economy by providing graduates with a high level of professional and personal skills, as well as building Australia’s intellectual capital. Intellectual capital is built with the extension of knowledge through Australian-based research and through the understanding and application of research originated elsewhere. University graduates and post-graduates are playing an increasingly important role in strengthening the capability and performance of Australian industry, commerce, government and community organisations. Many of today’s leaders and the majority of our future leaders will have developed their professional skills and attitudes with the aid of higher education programs.
Decisions taken as a result of this Review will shape the learning environment for Australians well into the next century. National wealth and welfare are at stake. Australia is likely to remain in the most dynamic geographic region of the world during the lifetime of today’s young Australians. Without a national vision and sufficient investment in our higher education system, Australia and today’s young Australians are likely to be marginalised as the region moves towards higher living standards and more advanced social and political structures. While Australians place great value on the personal award of higher education degrees, they under-value the infrastructure that makes those awards possible. Progressive relative decline in the value that society places on academics and the physical infrastructure that supports teaching and research illustrate the point. The Review will hopefully point to ways in which these negative trends and attitudes can be reversed.
One of the most impressive achievements of Australian higher education during recent years has been in the area of internationalisation. The university system is leading the internationalisation of the Australian society and economy. Overseas students have increased greatly, resulting in the strengthening of present ties between Australian and the region, as well as building a foundation for sound relationships with the region’s future leaders. Multicultural curriculum has expanded, underpinning international social and commercial activities. Universities have created offshore enterprises and joint ventures. Higher education services have developed to be one of the strongest sources of Australian export revenue other than agriculture and minerals.
The continuing changes in the structure of the Australian economy, workforce trends away from lower-skilled and towards science/engineering and information-based occupations, growth of the services sector - all these trends will ensure a continued high demand for graduates and post-graduates. Arguably, it will be the quality of these people, as much as our natural resources that will determine future living standards and quality of life for Australians. Our trading partners, particularly in our region, recognise the importance of education and training to their future and are investing accordingly. Australia cannot afford to fall behind.
Attributes of graduates and post-graduates:
The Round Table’s first commissioned study highlighted some key attributes sought by business in university graduates Foremost among these was thinking/decision -making skills, communication skills (oral and written), professional skills (theoretical and practical) a broadly-based academic experience, cooperation and teamwork. Standards of personal/business conduct, learning about work and career choice, practical work experience were also seen as important. Subsequent Round Table studies have confirmed and expanded on these findings, further emphasising (regardless of the course undertaken) the need for decision making and communication skills, interpersonal skills and adding emphasis to numerical and economic literacy and a grounding in Asian culture and values.
The Round Table’s research was recognised and reinforced by the recent OECD Review of tertiary education in Australia:
"the changing employment market is not leading to a greater demand for narrowly-trained specialists but for graduates who can think for themselves, communicate, empathise and work with others, invent solutions and create new possibilities. Although the university staffs we met showed awareness of such expectations, we were less certain that they were doing enough in translating them into new curriculum designs."
The role of higher education in the post-graduate/research area was highlighted in a Round Table Task Force report in 1992 which stated that:
"Overall, the most important contribution that university research can make is the production of well-educated, well-motivated post graduates with the ability to identify, acquire or develop the improvements necessary to increase the competitiveness of our export businesses; who can help to create an improvement-oriented culture in our society; and who can not only take part in the 2% of world research and development performed in Australia, but also take part in adapting what is relevant of the 98% which is done overseas."
This task force report also stressed that industry must recognise the special need for more post-graduates, and the major role that universities play in producing them.
The environment for higher education:
Round Table reports give an insight into the environment in which higher education operates today, and the future direction of that environment. The social environment is clearly more complex and diverse than we have previously experienced, with the danger of a substantial "underclass" developing, with limited opportunities to contribute to and benefit from, modern society. The Round Table’s emphasis on literacy, across all education sectors and adult life, reflects concern to address this threat.
The economic realities of global competition mean that there is little option for Australian society but to build its competitive strength to sustain living standards. This can only be achieved by anticipating and welcoming the challenges that are presented by continuous change. The higher education sector must play a key role in the change process.
Firstly, there is a need to recognise the new capabilities presented by information and communications technology, for example Internet technologies, to bring information to people (eg students) wherever they are and whenever they want. Now, in theory and soon in practice, it will be possible to bring the world’s leading exponents on any topic to present to any student, anywhere and any time. This capability calls into question the value of much of higher education’s institutional assets, built around accommodating students who travel to the institution to hear lectures from staff in a highly structured program.
While the new technologies threaten the present information transfer processes of higher education, they offer limited help in developing the key attributes (mentioned above) that business seeks in graduates - communication and interpersonal skills, decision making and problem solving skills, knowledge of work and careers. These can only be developed effectively through a process where social and workplace experiences are interwoven with the learning process. That learning process does not stop with an undergraduate degree but continues throughout much of the graduate’s career.
The recent OECD Review made some pertinent observations on this point which support the thrust of the Round Tables programs to strengthen closer relationships between the university and business communities:
"Australia has a long tradition of part-time and distance education and further development of these modes will make a significant contribution to meeting increased demands. But, … university learning is a social, as well as a cognitive matter, and the importance of a campus-based learning community has to be set against the gains in access through part-time and distance modes. The enterprise sector has a role to play over and above its present one in finding new ways to meet the demand and need for tertiary education. Much attention is focused on the role of enterprises in the TAFE sector but there is no less need for enterprise participation in the sphere of undergraduate degrees."
Increasingly, higher education will be called upon to assist with the career-long accumulation of specialised knowledge and skills. Post-graduate study, (both award and non-award), often workplace-based, is likely to be much more in demand from individuals and businesses as we move forward. If higher education institutions do not respond to this challenge, private educational institutions, whether company or industry based, are likely to prosper at the expense of the public institutions. It seems probable that undergraduate, and certainly post-graduate education, will see more part-time student participation, with distance education and workplace-based delivery strategies commonplace.
While the role that higher education institutions play in the future is likely to change in many respects, universities will continue to provide an essential forum where students will come together with leaders in scholarship and research as well as their peers, in a learning environment. The historical models for this collegial learning environment are well known. The university of the future faces the challenge of maintaining the benefits of the historical model while accommodating a student profile which is more diverse in age, interests, and accessibility to the institution.
The Round Table’s research points to a future where institutional learning and workplace learning become more interwoven. Information technologies can help this process by bridging problems of distance and time. Experience of student workplaces for university teaching and research staff will be important. Post-graduate, specialist learning, centred on actual workplace problems will do much to generate more support for university post-graduate and research programs, as well as building bridges between university research and private R&D. Successful universities will be able to build from a traditional view of post-graduate academic success to an employer view of what is needed to solve the most challenging problems of industry, commerce, government and community.
The role of Government:
Traditionally, Australian governments have been underwriters and policy drivers of the massive expansion of the higher education sector that has taken place in the last forty years. Now, demographic trends, the expansion of the Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector, the increase in capacity of the higher education sector to provide places for most qualified applicants, have combined to create a new environment. The sector has matured in the sense that massive growth is no longer desired. Instead, quality, diversity and specialisation, as well as the capacity to change to meet new demands, exploit modern technologies and meet global competition, have become the new priorities. Government’s role is changing in response to the new environment.
No longer should we expect governments to closely direct the development of the sector through fund allocation and administrative controls. Higher education institutions will best adapt to the new environment if they have the freedom to follow their own initiatives, to compete, to succeed and to fail, ultimately securing for themselves a profile of value for both students, employers and business partners. This does not mean that government funding for the sector should have lower priority - indeed the reverse is the case.
While the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) and more recent relaxation of restrictions on the charging of undergraduate and post-graduate fees is putting more emphasis on student choice and "user-pays" principles, there remains a strong argument for government subsidy of higher education studies, on grounds of access and equity, as well as national and community interest. The Round Table encourages the placement of more economic choice and power with students, through increased student subsidy at the expense of institutional (eg EFTSU) subsidy, to encourage more competition among institutions. At the same time, the Round Table draws attention to the problems institutions face in adapting to the new technologies and learning environments mentioned above. Institutions are struggling to find investment capital for new technologies and teaching materials, to restructure their physical and staff resources to meet new demands. A significant increase in institutional funding to assist in this restructuring and reinvigorating process is needed and justified. Government funding will have to provide the major source.
Universities, business and government all seek greater efficiency and value for the money invested in higher education. As in business, efficiency gains cannot be expected to continue simply by cutting budgets. Beyond a certain point (which is arguably well past), further gains require imaginative planning, analysis and investment in the new facilities and resources needed to deliver results more efficiently in a changed world.
There is a further requirement for continued, robust government support for higher education. This is in the area of research, with emphasis on areas where Australian business can benefit from the research effort and the associated skilled staff. While the Round Table continues to seek opportunities for increased business/academic collaboration in research and development, it recognises that such collaboration is generally built on a foundation of basic research and scholarship, initiated and funded by the institution, with government support. It is essential that this foundation be preserved and expanded through government assistance. The new international, competitive trading environment is seeing the disappearance of many forms of government assistance to local industry. Building national intellectual capital, available for industry to exploit, remains one of the accepted means to promote local industry and employment, a technique being embraced by Australia’s competitors in international trade and commerce.
Government can also assist the higher education sector through actively supporting its initiatives in overseas markets, particularly Asia, and through the provision of an industrial relations framework that facilitates the structural changes that the institutions face.
Theme two: factors affecting the demand for and provision of higher education over the next 10 to 20 years
The Review will have available to it up-to-date demographic projections and research into the future composition of the workforce. The Round Table does not wish to comment on detailed projections of that nature, but rather to outline qualitative information from its surveys and studies about the desired outputs of higher education. While this information refers mainly to the present, it provides a guide to the future direction of demand. Round Table studies have indicated the following factors to be important in this context:
A Round Table study of Leadership in R&D found deficiencies in the preparation of science and technical graduates particularly at advanced levels required to work in industrial R&D. It pointed out that "universities can do more to educate graduates who:
"Graduating to the Workplace" - a Round Table survey of attitudes of employed (recent) business and commerce graduates reinforced and added to the points made above. The survey found that:
"for both secondary and university education, the students ranked the development of general skills associated with communication, thinking and problem solving, and cooperation and teamwork as more important than knowledge learning, which in turn was rated more important than learning specific skills and knowledge for the workplace...(and that) much greater emphasis should be given to providing on-the-job work experience, professional studies of a practical nature, learning about work and career choice, and to developing standards of personal conduct.. (also) Strongest agreement occurred for a statement about the desirability of university staff having had experience of work outside education. This again supports the view that students would like their lecturers to be able to relate their teaching more closely to the workplace."
In the context of the desire for a broad educational experience for graduates, the Round Table initiated a competitive award program for universities to submit examples of good practice demonstrating innovative and comprehensive strategies to achieve a broadening of undergraduate education within specific programs of study. Thirty eight case studies from twenty universities were submitted, resulting in seven commendations, one of which received the accolade of an outstanding example. The commended submissions were outlined in a Round Table publication in 1995, and provide exemplars of good practice.
While the work of the Round Table has emphasised the business-oriented professions, science and engineering, its conclusions about graduate attributes are relevant to other fields, including the social and health sciences and the humanities. Indeed, as we move ahead into the information age where Australia’s innovative artistic and cultural capabilities are making a greater contribution to national wealth and intellectual property, the higher education graduates across all faculties will require more workplace-oriented learning environments, more emphasis on communication and problem-solving, as well as more cross-disciplinary content.
In summary, the Round Table’s work points to the following characteristics of future demand for higher education:
These outcomes will require:
Theme three: regulatory and administrative framework for higher education
The last decade has seen some helpful changes in the regulatory and administrative framework for higher education, but much more remains to be done. Focus on teaching excellence and a variety of quality criteria in government reviews of higher education activities and the awarding of discretionary funds has arguably increased institutional accountability. The regulatory framework of business has also changed considerably over recent years, and it is useful to examine how some of the new developments in business regulation can assist accountability and reporting requirements for higher education.
Institutional governance and accountability
There has been increased focus and attention on corporate governance principles and practices in the business sector, resulting in greater clarity of expectation about board procedures, director and executive capabilities and conduct, as well as standards of reporting to the various stakeholders of the enterprise. Professional bodies and regulatory agencies have been active in the drafting of codes of conduct and good practice. It is suggested that this Review examine how some of these developments can have relevance to the higher education sector - for example, should higher education institutions, in consultation with business, students, graduates and other stakeholders, search for best-practice models of university administration and accountability that can be reflected in guidelines for effective institutional governance ?
The long established university traditions of governing councils, faculty and academic boards, and administrative management has been helpful in many respects in maintaining academic integrity and standards within the institution. There is also evidence to indicate that this traditional framework has been less than successful in delivering timely response to change in demands from students, employers and government - Round Table research has highlighted such shortcomings. It would not be desirable to place a "straight-jacket" on institutions, with respect to their governance and reporting, but the Round table would wish to encourage and help to raise the standards of institutional governance in order to respond to the challenges ahead.
Performance monitoring and quality assessment
Business members of the Round Table show a keen interest in opportunities to increase the efficiency and productivity of the higher education sector, while recognising that efficiency programs successful in business may not translate easily to higher education. Nevertheless, opportunities for improvement doubtless exist and the recent OECD Review highlighted some of these. One area worthy of close attention is the interface between universities and the TAFE sector, where considerable gains seem likely from cross sectoral accreditation and facility sharing.
The Round Table’s research has helped raise awareness of the strengths and shortcomings of the higher education sector by measuring attitudes of business and academic leaders, students, employers and leaders of the research community. The Round Table would encourage this Review to reduce detailed reporting requirements of institutions to government and increase emphasis on measurement of achievement as seen by employers, students and graduates. In keeping with general moves to reduce administrative burdens and increase efficiency, government overview of institutions should be more broadly based, more reliant on adherence to institutional governance principles (eg appropriate internal and external audit) and less focused on administrative detail and accounting. Government should state its goals for the higher education sector and (where relevant) for individual institutions in broad terms and require each institution to outline its progress against each of the goals in annual reporting.
A global perspective
The pivotal role that higher education plays in the internationalisation of Australian society and its economy has been mentioned earlier. Australian graduates are being more effectively prepared than ever before to work in a global, multicultural environment.
One increasingly important aspect of performance assessment in higher education relates to global competitiveness. Success in attracting and retaining overseas students represents one important measure of teaching relevance and performance. Australian businesses operating internationally and regionally can provide valuable input to assessment of global competitiveness. Another measure of global competitiveness is an institution’s ability to attract scholars and researchers of international stature to lead its priority activities. Given that salary cost disparities may present difficulties here, government policies and support should aim to alleviate this problem.
Competition policy
Competition policy development has also had a major influence on business. The education sector is likely to come under increasing pressure to respond to competition policy principles as we move forward, and the Round Table welcomes that development. As already mentioned, the positive trend towards student-sourced, rather than institution-based funding of courses will accelerate competition in the sector. Again, there is much scope for cooperation between business and the higher education sector, in the development of appropriate models of competition policy and regulation. As institutions come to specialise and differentiate their offerings, developing centres of excellence in various areas of teaching and scholarship, inter-faculty and inter-institutional collaboration and cooperation must increase. Students and employers will expect to access teaching and research programs from multiple sources, effectively and "seamlessly". There is much scope for improvement in inter- and intra-institutional cooperation and the higher education sector will need to learn from the experience of business in the development of access codes and guidelines, as well as developing a culture that can combine competition and collaboration appropriately.
The Round Table has undertaken a number of studies related to research, development and intellectual property issues relating to university and business, public and private commercial partnerships. These offer suggestions on a framework for public and private sector R&D interactions, including that public and private sector R&D organisations work through their peak bodies to develop straightforward and widely acceptable forms of research contract.
Theme four: financing higher education teaching and research training, and
Theme five: funding of higher education research
The Round Table has not attempted to arrive at any consensus view about future funding mechanisms for higher education. It does regard increased collaboration between business and higher education as helpful to the debate about funding and wishes to participate as discussion proceeds. This submission outlines some suggestions and highlights some priorities, without attempting a coherent, overall funding framework.
Looking ahead into the next decades of the 21st century, it is absolutely vital that there be an appropriately significant investment in the research infrastructure of Australia (eg laboratories, equipment and technical support). Current inadequacies and shortfalls, highlighted in a number of DEETYA sponsored reports have been recognised at the policy level in increased levels of ARC funding in 1995 and 1996. Nevertheless, further increases will be necessary to achieve an acceptable research infrastructure for the future.
More broadly, it is a major concern of the Round Table that Australia sustains the kind of healthy national science base set out in projections by the Academy of Science and articulated recently by such Australian research leaders as Professor Sir Gustav Nossal. In addressing the Australian Science Festival in Canberra on 15 April 1997 he said that:
"..I fear that we are moving in dangerous and murky waters in Australian tertiary education. We cannot have first class medical research institutions and good post-graduates emerging from institutions unless we support these amenities wholeheartedly… the macro-contribution of the Commonwealth Government and the tertiary sector must not be allowed to shrink any further.
Whatever way we may cut the cake, whatever full-fee paying foreign and Aussie students may or may not do, we should not allow government out from under one of the most basic obligations, which is support for tertiary education. And economic rationalism can go so far, but you have got to have a commitment to something, and my glory, if education isn’t number one priority for this wonderful young nation of ours, what is? "
The Round Table has engaged in an extensive work program designed to facilitate collaboration between business and higher education in research programs. This initiative points to ways in which business funding and resources can be utilised more effectively by higher education institutions and government research laboratories. A Round Table conference on R&D Management held in March 1996 adopted a series of recommendations including that:
These recommendations provide an indication of Round Table attitudes to the funding of higher education research. They indicate ways in which the existing funding arrangements might be augmented through greater private sector collaboration and support. However, as previously noted, private/public sector R&D collaboration is based on the underlying strength of the higher education institutions in those disciplines of basic science, engineering, economics, social and health sciences that are not funded (either now or in the foreseeable future) by the private sector. There will continue to be a demand for substantial, and probably increasing real funding of this basic academic infrastructure by governments as we move forward.
The Round Table endorses recent research initiatives involving collaborative schemes which include graduate support awards, centres and programs which bring together universities and industry, as well as the broad thrust of the EIP Report (96/17) "Knowledge-based Cooperation: University - Industry Linkages in Australia". The Round Table is also examining the impact of the recent reduction in the R&D tax concession, because of concern that this may work against the objective of increasing higher education - business collaboration, and result overall in reduced R&D activity in Australia.
Recent innovations such as the Cooperative Research Centres (CRCs) and Mechanism C grants are clearly heading in the right direction and deserve to be supported further. Business incentives for R&D expenditure and adoption of the recommendations of the Round Table studies and conferences are likely to augment private sector support for R&D, including collaborative programs. This, however will not reduce the ongoing need for government support of our basic knowledge base in higher education which must aim to lead or keep up with the world in those areas of science and scholarship that are vital to our industry, commerce and society.
A final area of research that deserves priority consideration by this Review is the field of information technology (IT). Higher education must play a significant role in Australia’s participation in the age of information technology, which we enter as we move into the next century. The role that university research played in the development of AARNET, and the resulting placement of Australia as one of the leading nations in the adoption of on-line technology, cannot be overstated. This example is illustrative of the leverage that university programs can exert in the rapid take-up by Australia of key IT applications. Universities must be equipped and encouraged to be leaders in IT research and applications, not only through increasing collaboration with business, but also within their own educational and research programs. The very process of higher education in Australia will need to see teaching and research training increasingly based on the new technologies.
The response of higher education to the demands and opportunities of the information age should be an integral part of a national "program", as has been developed in other advanced countries, designed to ensure the necessary research, production and utilisation of information technologies. In this regard, the Round Table draws the attention of the Review to the (yet-to-be-published) findings of the Information Industries Task Force, in order to facilitate a national approach.
Attachment I
MISSION STATEMENT
The purpose of the Business/Higher Education Round Table is to pursue jointly initiatives that will advance the goals and improve the performance of both business and higher education for the benefit of Australian society.
It is a forum where leaders of Australia’s business and academic communities can jointly examine important educational issues of mutual interest, for the purpose of developing and presenting recommendations for improving the interaction between Australian business and higher education institutions, and on the future directions for higher education.
In pursuing this mission the Round Table aims to influence public opinion and both government and non-government policy on selected issues of importance.
The Round Table believes that a prerequisite for a more prosperous and equitable society in Australia is a more highly-educated community. In material terms it fosters economic growth and improved living standards - through improved productivity and competitiveness with other countries. In terms of equity, individual Australians should have the opportunity to realise their full social, cultural, political and economic potential.
* * * * * * *
Attachment II
MEMBERS OF THE
BUSINESS/HIGHER EDUCATION ROUND TABLE
Corporate Members
Advance Bank Australia Limited
Mr Charlie Bell, Managing Director, McDonald’s Australia Limited
Mr Ric Charlton, AM, Company Director
Mr Leigh Clifford, Managing Director, CRA Limited
Coles Myer Limited
Mr Tony D’Aloisio, Chief Executive Partner, Mallesons Stephen Jaques
Mr Glenn Dudley, Managing Director, Metal Manufactures Limited
Mr Brian Finn, AO, Chairman, IBM Australia Limited
Mr Henry Goldberg, Managing Director, Philip Morris (Australia) Limited
** Professor Ashley Goldsworthy, AO, OBE, Company Director
Mr Kevin Hayes, Managing Director, Cadbury Schweppes Australia Limited
* Mr Warren Haynes, Chief Executive Officer, ICI Australia Limited
Mr Richard Hein, Managing Director, P&O Australia Limited
Mr Klaus Lahr, Chairman, Siemens Limited
Mr Eric Mayer, AM, Company Director
Mr Ron McGimpsey, Managing Director, BP Australia Limited
* Mr Richard Pratt, AO, Chairman, Visy Industries
Mr John Prescott, AC, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, BHP Company Ltd
Price Waterhouse
* Mrs Imelda Roche, AO, Managing Director, Nutri-Metics International (Aust) Pty Ltd
Mr Phillip Scanlan, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, Bonlac Foods Limited
Mr Peter Smedley, Managing Director, Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society Limited
Mr Rob Stewart, National Managing Partner, Minter Ellison
Dr Roland Williams, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, Shell Australia Limited
Mr Ross Wilson, Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, TABCORP Holdings Ltd
Academic Members
Professor Don Aitkin, Vice-Chancellor, University of Canberra
* Professor David Beanland, Vice-Chancellor, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology
Professor Gavin Brown, Vice-Chancellor, The University of Sydney
Professor Cliff Blake, AM, Vice-Chancellor, Charles Sturt University
Professor Tony Blake, Vice-Chancellor, University of Technology, Sydney
Professor Denise Bradley, AO, Vice-Chancellor, University of South Australia
Professor Ian Chubb, Vice-Chancellor, Flinders University of South Australia
Professor Barry Conyngham, Vice-Chancellor, Southern Cross University
Professor Dennis Gibson, Vice-Chancellor, Queensland University of Technology
Professor Alan Gilbert, Vice-Chancellor, The University of Melbourne
Professor John Hay, Vice-Chancellor, The University of Queensland
Professor Roger Holmes, Vice-Chancellor, The University of Newcastle
Professor Ron McKay, Vice-Chancellor, Northern Territory University
Professor Donald McNicol, Vice-Chancellor, The University of Tasmania
Professor Mary O’Kane, Vice-Chancellor, The University of Adelaide
* Professor Michael Osborne, Vice-Chancellor, La Trobe University
* Professor David Robinson, Vice-Chancellor, Monash University
Professor Jarlath Ronayne, Vice-Chancellor, Victoria University of Technology
* Professor Deryck Schreuder, Vice-Chancellor, University of Western Sydney
Professor Gerard Sutton, Vice-Chancellor, University of Wollongong
Professor Peter Swannell, Vice-Chancellor, University of Southern Queensland
Professor Deane Terrell, Vice-Chancellor, Australian National University
Professor Lance Twomey, AM, Vice-Chancellor, Curtin University of Technology
* Professor Iain Wallace, Vice Chancellor, Swinburne University of Technology
* Professor Roy Webb, Vice-Chancellor, Griffith University
Professor Geoff Wilson, Vice-Chancellor, Deakin University
Professor Di Yerbury, AM, Vice-Chancellor, Macquarie University
___________________________________________________________________________________
** President
* Board members
Secretariat: George Hutton, Executive Director
Attachment III
PUBLICATIONS
Aiming Higher: a report of the survey of Round Table members and others about their concerns about education, and their views on standards in schooling and higher education. July 1991 (out of print).
Educating for Excellence: a report of a survey of the attitudes of university lecturers from professional faculties and those in business responsible for recruiting and managing new graduates. September 1992.
Promoting Partnerships: a publication addressing the question of enhancing interaction between university research and industry. August 1992.
Education: a Foundation for the Wealth of Nations: speech by Mr John Prescott, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, BHP Company Limited, with a response by Professor Brian Smith, then Vice-Chancellor, University of Western Sydney. October 1992.
Learning from Others: selected documents on key issues and strategies in higher education, training and business in the United States, Canada and the European Community. March 1993.
Graduating to the Workplace: a report of a survey of the attitudes of university students from business and commerce faculties on education, business and education/business interaction. May 1993.
Developing Leaders in R&D: a report prepared by a task force chaired by Professor Leon Mann of the Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne, on the challenges and opportunities for Australian industry and higher education. October 1994.
Identifying Future Leaders
A Study of Career Progression and Development: a report
on the recruitment and career progression of graduates in their
first 10 years of work, and the views of human resource
professionals about identifying and developing leaders in
Australian companies.
The Value-Added Degree
Case Studies in Broadening Undergraduate Education: the
winners of the Round Table’s awards for excellence in
broadening undergraduate education. Winning courses ranged from
business information, medical and science courses to landscape
architecture. Full case studies of winning courses.
Partners in Intellectual Property: a report on the development and commercialisation of intellectual property between higher education and business in Australia.
Directions for R&D Management: An Australian Strategy for Achievement through Leadership: Proceedings of a working conference exploring strategies to progress effective R&D management in Australia. July 1996