Media Release

Higher Education Review

5 April 2002, MIN 44/02

Higher education plays a vitally important role in our economic and social landscape, through the generation and transmission of the knowledge that is essential to Australia's long-term economic growth and competitiveness.

It is in Australia’s interests to have the best higher education system it possibly can, based on the highest standards it can set.

I am pleased today to outline the details of a process for the further enhancement of higher education in Australia.

There are a number of challenges facing our university sector. My discussions with Vice-Chancellors, students, educators and others in the sector to date have highlighted a range of issues which merit close scrutiny. These include governance and university management, workplace relations, financing, student access and equity of opportunity, attracting and retaining quality staff, and university efficiency and responsiveness.

Much has already been done to strengthen our higher education system. However, despite the significant strides that have been made there remain significant challenges.

Over the coming months I intend to identify the scope for improvements to the higher education sector and seek suggestions about how the Government might facilitate those improvements. Wide-ranging consultations and discussion on issues facing higher education will underpin the process.

Forming the basis for this ongoing debate will be;

• a general issues paper, released in the coming weeks setting the scene for consideration of policy options before us; and
• a series of separate specific discussion papers. These papers, examining particular issues and aimed at furthering debate on options to improve higher education, will cover areas such as equitable access, universities’ role in regional development, research concentration, university specialisation, governance arrangements, industrial relations, balancing supply and demand and university financing.

These discussion papers will be supported by public consultations across Australia, with interested parties invited to make submissions.

Supporting the development of these papers will be a dedicated Secretariat established within my Department, consisting of Departmental officials, as well as some external representation. In addition to this I will be forming my own Reference Group drawn from a variety of groups within the sector and the broader community, and convened by the Secretary of my Department, Dr Peter Shergold. This Group will assist me to guide the consultations and the development of the discussion papers.

I hope to conclude this process towards the end of the year with a forum to consider the issues presented in the papers and discuss options for addressing the needs of the sector.

It is timely today that I am also able to release a study, commissioned by the Department of Education Science and Training, which examines the regulatory environment within which our universities operate. It provides a useful platform for beginning the current discussion about the challenges facing higher education.

Our institutions are increasingly involved in new forms of operation, ventures and partnerships. The report, Study of the Regulatory Environment Applying to Universities, clarifies the precise nature of the regulatory framework in which these institutions operate.

The report examines issues relevant to the development of a common, more effective approach nationally to the accountability, reporting requirements, and regulation of universities. In particular it provides some useful information about the scope of universities’ powers as they engage in commercialisation and of any constraints that may exist to hinder their ability to maximise commercial opportunities.

Study of the Regulatory Environment Applying to Universities was undertaken by a team from Phillips Fox Lawyers in Canberra.

The report is available at: www.dest.gov.au/highered/eippubs/eip01_19/default.htm

How Australia’s higher education system evolves over the coming years will determine the sort of country our children will be living in 20, 30 or 50 years from now.

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