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Don Perlgut
What does a Biden presidency mean for Australian higher education ?
By Don Perlgut
Much of the world was rivetted as the results of the United
States presidential election played out live on screen .
President-elect Joe Biden has identified four immediate priorities : confront the Coronavirus pandemic , promote economic recovery , advance racial equity and tackle the climate crisis .
While the anticipated quick change in American policy on climate change has received the greatest media attention because of its anticipated impact on Australia , what about education ?
The impact on educational policy could be profound , once a Biden-Harris administration deals with its more pressing issues . Although the election appeared to be a “ policy free zone ”, many of the Democratic policies on education represent a significant change from the past four years .
This is no accident : Biden ’ s wife , Dr Jill Biden , has Master ’ s degrees in both English and Education and a Doctor of Education ( EdD ) in educational leadership . She teaches English at Northern Virginia Community College , which she continued during her husband ’ s terms as Vice President and intends to continue as First Lady . She has been a passionate advocate for US community colleges and the need to improve education for disadvantaged Americans .
President-elect Biden foreshadowed this approach in his acceptance speech on 7 November , when he said that Jill “ has dedicated her life to education , but teaching isn ’ t just what she does — it ’ s who she is . For America ’ s educators , this is a great day : You ’ re going to have one of your own in the White House .”
What are the impacts on Australia ? Biden will face historic challenges with the US “ grappling with a deadly pandemic , a struggling economy and a deeply divided
American public ”, combined with the strong possibility of a recalcitrant and oppositional Senate . All of these will slow down educational reform .
But it ’ s likely to happen . “ In Australia there is a tendency to be influenced by and copy the US and UK in many fields and education is no exception ,” writes Professor Stephen Dinham . He points to 20 different areas where both the US and UK have deeply impacted Australian educational policy over recent decades , citing funding increases to private schools , a belief that public education is failing and how choice , competition , privatisation and the free market are the answers to almost any question about education .
When Biden , the committed educationalist , enters the White House on 20 January , I foresee four possible impacts on Australian post-secondary and higher education : two positive and two negative .
On the plus side , we can expect a major US regulatory crackdown on private for-profit colleges and universities , removing the “ profit is great ” tone of the last four years . While she was California Attorney General , Vice President-elect Kamala Harris prosecuted the large for-profit chain Corinthian Colleges for defrauding students . So there ’ s a real commitment to ethical behaviour .
We can also expect a major commitment to America ’ s racial minorities and working class students , with sustained attempts to engage them in higher education , particularly through the US community college system , whose closest Australian comparison is TAFE – but which also shares some similarities to Australian adult and community education ( ACE ) providers .
On the negative side , we will probably experience increased competition for international students : worth $ 35 billion to the economy , it was a sector which had already plateaued prior to the pandemic and may never recover its previous heights . President Biden will reverse the travel ban on visitors from mostly Muslim countries . Nor will he target overseas students ( at one point , Trump tried to ban international students if classes were held online ).
So once the virus is under control , students may start to flock again to the US , including many who had been put off by the previous administration . A reversal of the Trump Administration ’ s openly hostile attitude towards colleges and universities may have another impact : the Australian Government ’ s dramatic university funding cuts and refusal to provide support during the pandemic through JobKeeper , estimated to be 5 per cent deficit in real terms , has resulted in the loss of massive numbers of Australian university researchers .
We may see a significant Australian “ brain drain ” – particularly of newly minted PhDs who cannot get jobs here – to a revitalised US university sector . It won ’ t happen right away , but with a virus vaccine seemingly imminent , it could be soon .
“ Biden won not with historic momentum as Obama did , nor by surprise as Trump did , but with the steadfast deliberation of a man who knows who he is and what America needs ,” writes Charlotte Alter in Time . Part of that self-knowledge is a strong and consistent commitment to education , so we can expect that Biden will follow through on his promises . ■
Dr Don Perlgut is the CEO of Community Colleges Australia ( CCA ). Opinions expressed in this article are those of Perlgut and not necessarily of CCA .
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