THE REVIEW TERMS OF REFERENCE

BACKGROUND

The last decade has been a period of sustained and far-reaching change for Australia's higher education sector. Increases in access and participation have completed its transformation from an elite to a mass higher education system. At the same time, there has been pressure both to restrain expenditure and to address the issues arising from the rapid expansion of the system, such as the need for quality assurance processes. Associated with this transformation have been other changes, including the removal of the binary divide in higher education, increased use of targeted research funding, and the increased use of advanced communications technology by institutions.

The next two decades are likely to bring additional change to the sector. Higher education will increasingly become an international enterprise, where services are delivered to a global market place and international links are vital to the creation and advancement of knowledge. Developments in communications technology will reinforce these trends. These developments also will continue to change the delivery of higher education and the management of information, with profound effects on the nature of teaching and learning and the provision of teaching and research infrastructure.

At the same time, higher education will become an increasingly vital component of the economic and social fabric of advanced industrial societies. A diverse, high quality higher education sector will be one of Australia's most important comparative competitive advantages as manufacturing processes and capital become more mobile.

It is timely, therefore, to examine the fundamental processes that are shaping the future of higher education in Australia, and to consider the policy frameworks and financing arrangements that are necessary to ensure that universities meet Australia's economic and social needs in the long term, and are able to respond to the challenges and opportunities posed by their increasingly competitive environment.

TERMS OF REFERENCE

The committee will undertake a broad ranging review of the state of Australia's higher education sector, the effectiveness of the sector in meeting Australia's social, economic, scientific and cultural needs, and the developments which are likely to shape the provision of higher education in the next two decades.

The review committee will develop a comprehensive policy framework for higher education that will allow universities to respond creatively and flexibly to change, and will ensure that the sector meets the needs of students, industry and society in general as these are likely to develop over the next two decades.

Within this framework, the review committee will identify options for the financing of higher education teaching and research, and for providing Commonwealth funding to higher education institutions for these purposes.

SCOPE OF THE REVIEW

The Government does not wish to limit the scope of the review committee's work in any way, though it expects that the review committee will examine long term developments in the following areas, and the implications of these developments for higher education teaching and research:

• the internationalisation of higher education;
• sources of finance for higher education;
• historical trends and likely future directions in the level and nature of demand for higher education;
• the equality of opportunity to participate in higher education;
• the level and nature of industry demand for higher education graduates and higher education research, and the contribution that graduates and research conducted within higher education institutions makes to the competitiveness of Australian industry;
• the role of research conducted in higher education institutions in the national research and innovation system, and the increasing importance of international links for research conducted in higher education institutions in Australia;
• teaching practice and course content in the context of changing undergraduate and postgraduate students' needs and developments in the knowledge base of disciplines;
• the use of advanced communications technologies in teaching, and in libraries and other teaching and research infrastructure;
• pressures on higher education quality assurance and accreditation processes arising from the development of a more diverse higher education sector;
• policy and practice in public sector financing and management, including the increased emphasis on competition, contestability and competitive neutrality principles; and
• the review committee will take account of the requirements of the Commonwealth's legislation review program.

THE REVIEW COMMITTEE'S REPORT

In developing its recommendations, the Government expects that the review committee will pay particular attention to the need to ensure that:

• public funds for higher education teaching and research are used efficiently and effectively, and appropriate accountability arrangements are in place;
• Government funding mechanisms and processes encourage diversity between higher education institutions and excellence in teaching and research;
• program and advisory structures for research and development in the higher education sector
  • maximise the development of high level skills,
  • maximise the contribution of higher education research to the broader research and innovation system,
  • strengthen Australia's research base and its contribution to Australia's long term sustainable industry competitiveness, and
  • facilitate the communication of research results to end users in industry and the community
• Government funding mechanisms support a national system of higher education, in which it is recognised that universities play a vital role in regional economies;
• there is an appropriate balance between private and public funding for higher education;
• financial, social and geographic factors do not act as a barrier to higher education for appropriately qualified students within Australia;
• higher education institutions are committed to achieving high quality outcomes and to continuous quality improvement;
• the structure and range of higher education courses meet the needs of students and industry;
• the interfaces between the higher education sector and the vocational education and schools sectors operate efficiently and effectively; and
• commercial activities comply with the principles of competitive neutrality.

TIMELINE

The review committee will provide a final report to the Minister by December 1997.

Senator The Hon Amanda Vanstone
Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs
January 1997

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