Submission to the West Higher Education Review Committee - March 1997
Prepared by
Associate Professor John Cann, University of
South Australia
representing the Geological Society of Australia. [Contact Phone
No: (08) 8302 3070]
Preamble
The Australian Geoscience Council (AGC) comprises representatives of all major Australian geoscientific societies, which together represent some 7000 members of the Geoscience professions. The AGC provides a forum in which member societies promote recognition of the contributions of applied Geoscience to the economic prosperity and quality of life of the Australian community. Groups such as the Australian Research Council, the Department of Employment, Education and Training, and the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies, recognise the AGC as the major body representing the Geoscience professions.
The Council aims to:
It is within the above context that the following points have been formulated for consideration.
1. Earth Sciences (or Geoscience)
Each of the various Earth Sciences has as its focus selected aspects of the materials composing Earth (and/or other planets with our Solar System), and the processes that operate now, or have operated in the past, in the construction and modification of our planet. Geology, with its traditional studies of rocks and minerals, and its practical applications into mining and petroleum exploitation, is traditionally recognised as the foundation Earth Science. However, it is important to recognise here that the Earth Sciences embody a range of specialist disciplines which are concerned with, not only solid Earth, but also the atmosphere, hydrosphere and biosphere. In the past few decades, Earth scientists have come to recognise the complexity and interaction of the major systems that control and shape our planet, and the time frames within which they have evolved. Most recently, increasing attention has been given to the impact of processes on the human environment, and the role of humans as an agent for geological change.
2. Economic Considerations
2.1 Extractive industries
The present review of higher education in Australia has a variety of objectives, but unquestionably there is a primary concern that this country should derive maximum economic benefit for its financial investment in the tertiary education sector. For this reason, it is appropriate to consider firstly the economic contributions of the applications of Geology and other Earth Sciences. The extractive industries, mining and petroleum exploitation, are the most obvious of these applications.
The mining and energy sectors underpin the Australian economy, providing about one half of our export income. The Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics (ABARE) believes that mining and energy exports will amount to $36 billion in this financial year. By 2001/2 ABARE predicts that these resources will account for 60% of Australia’s commodity exports. It is clearly not possible to overstate the importance of the extractive industries to our national economy.
In the case of petroleum, it is equally important that indigenous sources more fully meet our needs, so that Australia becomes less reliant upon overseas suppliers, particularly when we are dependent upon imports from politically "sensitive" areas.
To guarantee the continued viability and long-term future of the mineral and fossil fuel industries, it is imperative that the higher education system produce high quality graduates in sufficient number to meet the ongoing demand for geologists, geophysicists, mining engineers and similar professionals. As in all areas of applied science and technology, the business of educating such professionals has become progressively more sophisticated and thus more expensive, as the jobs for which they are prepared become more complex and demanding. However, nowhere will it be more clearly demonstrable that the financial returns to the Australian economy justify investment in the educational infrastructure.
2.2 Environmental issues
After two hundred years of environmental modification through European style agriculture, urbanisation and deforestation, Australia faces major problems of soil and water degradation. In many ways, for most Australians, these problems are "out of sight, out of mind", but it is widely acknowledged that they have an enormous economic cost. Problems such as salination of agricultural land, caused by human intervention in a natural system, can be addressed using innovative technology, as demonstrated by programs such as that of Mines and Energy SA in place in the South Australian Riverland. Effective groundwater management in this country will require an increasing number of graduates in hydrology. In the United States of America, about one quarter of all Earth Science graduates is employed in the groundwater industry.
Geological environmental hazards provide another area of immediate concern. Hazards include volcanic and earthquake activity, and more common events such as flooding and landslip. Australian cities are not immune from such phenomena, as history clearly reveals. Seismologists could not have predicted the Newcastle earthquake, but seismic research will eventually allow identification of those areas most likely to be affected by earthquake activity. Potential hazards, once recognised, can be minimised by appropriate cooperation between geoscientist and engineer, or can be avoided by relocation of communities. The need for well prepared professionals, who can research and advise on geological hazards will be obvious, and we should view the education of such people as a cost effective, long term investment.
Some environmental issues require an understanding within a more extended time frame. For example, there is now a general community awareness of what has been termed the "greenhouse effect", in which measurable global warming is predicted to occur within the time span of a human generation. The consequences of this temperature increase, should it occur, will be widespread. Climatic patterns will change and sea level will rise in response to melting glacial ice. Many geoscientists have a time frame which allows them to evaluate the prevailing evidence in the light of known past fluctuations of climates, animal and plant distributions, and sea levels. Collectively, the outcomes of their research will permit predictive models that will become increasingly refined, and therefore useful, as governments and communities plan for the changes that are envisaged. Maintaining a base for research that has such long term potential benefits should be a major priority objective for our higher education system.
3. Cultural Considerations
3.1 Geology as a basic science
Geology, Physics, Chemistry and Biology are the foundation sciences, and no program of science education is complete without some exposure to each of these major disciplines. The particular contributions of Geology lead students to an understanding of the evolution and structure of the planet, and of the processes that operate to form the continents and ocean basins as they are presently distributed. Geology alone provides the time frame for these processes, and this together with the fossil record, creates the philosophical framework within which it is possible to view the development of life on Earth. Within undergraduate programs, the discipline is therefore not only required as a foundation subject for all science majors, but it also has an important place as a culturally broadening subject for students studying other specialisations, such as arts or commerce.
3.2 Geology and Ecotourism
Australians and visitors from overseas have become increasingly aware of, and interested in, the geological history of landscape and the significance of geological features. In this country we were somewhat slow to meet this need, but the situation is now being addressed in a variety of ways. National Parks with a special focus on landforms and geological history have been set aside for conservation and interpretation of relevant features. Thus, for example, it is now possible for a visitor to Brachina Gorge, in the Flinders Ranges of South Australia, to follow a series of interpretive signs through a sequence of rocks that record the earliest development of marine animal life, leading to the first appearance of reef constructing animals. In similar ways, tourists are invited to experience the architecture and historic relics of such famous early mining towns as Burra and Moonta.
The educational preparation of park rangers and other persons who are capable of setting up such trails, and who are able to present such culturally enriching material to visitors, now clearly rests with the university sector. Given the widely publicised economic importance of tourism to the Australian economy, it is likely that this educational investment will become very cost effective.
4. Conservation Versus Exploitation; Geological Education
Within much of the Australian community there is a perception that mining is a major cause of environmental destruction. This belief can be attributed largely to the expanded development of the environmental movement, both here and in other developed countries, that occurred during the 1960s, and the widespread promotion of the views of the environmentalists by well intentioned, but poorly informed, teachers within our schools. In an unreasonably polarised debate, the mining industry was grouped with such "bad guys" as those who turned rain forest into chipboard, slaughtered elephants for ivory, or contaminated waterways with toxic industrial waste.
It is true that in the early days of mining in this country, there was little incentive for mine owners to curate the land surrounding their mine sites, but today companies are bound, by both their own ethics and by legislation, to observe a code of practice that will minimise environmental degradation, and maximise rehabilitation. However, despite the best efforts of those whose job it is to project this new image of mining to the public, the old prevailing attitudes have seemingly changed very little. Given the importance of the extractive industries to the Australian economy, it is essential that we develop and promote in our community a greater appreciation of the relevant issues, one in which conservation and exploitation, costs and benefits, can be debated within a more informed climate.
If we are to achieve this outcome, the desired changes must begin with teachers in our schools. In some of the university based teacher education programs, those who are intending secondary teachers of science are required to study at least foundation first year subjects in each of the basic sciences, including Geology. In some instances it is also possible for intending primary teachers to study Geology within a science major or submajor. However, more often than not, beginning teachers graduate with little or no exposure to the Earth sciences. The teaching of Geology as a separate discipline in Australian secondary schools has actually declined in recent years, and in at least one state, Victoria, it is no longer available as a subject choice at senior level.
There is clearly much to support an argument for increasing exposure to Geology within our teacher education programs. Ideally this should occur within learning situations that bring intending teachers together with those aiming to practise as geologists, mining engineers and similar professionals. University Geology departments should be adequately staffed and otherwise resourced to achieve this end.
5. Some Funding Issues
5.1 Student numbers and employment outcomes
University funding models are largely based on student numbers. Thus, departments, schools and faculties have an income base that is essentially dependent upon their ability to attract students. If we are to be concerned with the maintenance of programs that demonstrably serve, and in some instances are critical to the national interest, it does not seem sensible that these programs should be funded in ways that are subject to the vagaries of popularity. Based on opinions of 18 years old university entrants and those of their parents, popularity of a subject, course or program can be ephemeral, and may not necessarily be an accurate reflection of a potentially positive employment outcome for students. It is important that evolving funding models are not simply driven by numbers of students enrolled.
In recognition of national needs for selected professional human resources, the university funding model could possibly incorporate graduate employment outcomes, averaged over a period of several years. Using such a parameter, feedback funding would be ensured for programs from which graduates were readily employable, in industries actively contributing to the Australian economy. Also, guaranteed funding within a more extended time frame of about five years would allow academic staff to more easily adjust to the changing needs of industry. Notwithstanding, subjects and programs in which there are consistently large enrolments, for whatever reason, should be funded accordingly to meet their resource needs.
5.2 Postgraduates and research
It is ironic that funding models, which are simply based on student numbers, act against those academic areas which have successful graduate employment outcomes. For the past several years there has been relatively full employment in the Earth science industries, where graduate salaries are currently among the highest offered in Australia. It has therefore become difficult for university departments to attract those students, who have potential as researchers, to undertake postgraduate studies, and funding for important postgraduate programs has declined as a consequence. If university departments are to maintain a useful research base, we need to create greater funding incentives to retain the best students in postgraduate research programs. Industry and the Australian economy will ultimately benefit from such moves. Australian Earth Science enjoys an outstanding international reputation which has been well earned by our research contributions.
In this context, it is important to recognise that much productive research is low budget, curiosity driven, so-called "pure" research, that seemingly has no apparent thrust towards a desired industrial outcome. Yet frequently, the findings of such work lead to important applications of great economic and social significance. Where great curiosity is accompanied by intelligence and perseverance, we must ensure that such potential research does not wither for want of funding and other encouragement.
5.3 University Staff Salaries
A further related issue is the question of salaries. As mentioned above, graduate salaries in the applied Geosciences are among the highest for all professions. A new graduate may well commence employment in industry at a salary higher than that offered to the level "A" university lecturers who contributed to the same new graduate’s education. Given the qualifications and work experience that are required for a university appointment, it is reasonable to question the adequacy of the remunerative incentives to apply for such a position.
5.4 Fieldwork
Fieldwork is an integral part of the practical experiences that contribute to the professional education of a geologist; it is the laboratory-at-large and forms the centre piece of the undergraduate curriculum! Adequate presentation of a program of field work and excursions has become a major problem for many Australian university Geology departments. Often, at departmental levels, academic Geology staff are frustrated by university management and colleagues from other disciplines who show an apparent lack of understanding of the importance of field work, and of the problems of funding these experiences. One university academic has pointed out the dilemma in which, while it is not permissible to levy a charge on students for compulsory field trips, it is also not possible to assess field work that is not compulsory.
Combinations of fluctuating student numbers and increasing costs together mitigate against maintenance of effective programs. It is essential that this aspect of a program is adequately funded, and therefore appropriately recognised within any funding model.
6. Recommendations
In the light of the above observations and comments, the AGC recommends that within the Australian university sector: