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SA opposition leader Peter Malinauskas . Picture : Matt Loxton
On again ?
SA uni merger part of election promise .
South Australia ’ s opposition leader has
promised to drive a merger between the states ’ universities if the Labor party wins the next state election . In a Facebook post , Peter Malinauskas said South Australia was the only mainland state without a university in the top 100 in the world .
“ The harsh truth is that each of our universities are too small and too undercapitalised to make it into the
list of top international universities ,” Malinauskas said .
“ They simply don ’ t do enough large-scale research to be recognised as world leading and that is holding our state back .”
To better the state ’ s global standing , Labor will establish a “ university merger commission ” tasked with the creation of an “ internationally recognised top 100 university and driving the state ’ s economic growth for decades to come ”.
Malinauskas said : “ Higher education is a major economic driver for our state , supporting thousands of jobs , attracting tens of thousands of students from overseas and generating hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity . “ But I fear as a state we are falling behind .” Potential mergers between South Australia ’ s universities have continued to make headlines after a deal between the Universities of South Australia and Adelaide fell through in 2018 .
In late October that year , the universities ’ chancellors said they pulled the plug due to “ key threshold issues and strategic risks ”, which plagued the merger investigation from the start .
The two institutions couldn ’ t resolve those concerns .
“ Rather than engaging in further exploration of a potential merger , we feel it is in each university ’ s best interests to bring our discussions to a close at this time ,” their statement read .
In August this year , new Adelaide chancellor Catherine Branson said there was “ possible merit in a rationalisation of the shape and number of public universities in South Australia ”.
Branson would want to apply lessons learnt from failed discussions before formally recommencing merger talks , The Advertiser reported .
“ It would , for example , be essential to have a clear understanding of what was sought to be achieved by any merger and why ; that is , of what the state ’ s tertiary sector would look like post-merger and of why it would then better serve our state ,” she said .
“ It would also be necessary to achieve an up-front understanding of all parties ’ prerequisites for any potential merger or rationalisation .” ■
Subjective view
UniMelb top Aus performer in world subject ranking .
Australia ’ s rankings darling , the
University of Melbourne , has dominated a series of subject ladders released by Times Higher Education .
It was the nation ’ s best performer in seven of the 11 World University Rankings by subject .
UniMelb ’ s best results were in law , where it came in at number 11 and clinical and health (= 11 ). It also sat near the top of the international ladder in education ( 17 ) and psychology ( 23 ).
Its would-be clean streak was broken up by UNSW Sydney , which came in at 48 for engineering and 54 for computer science , and Australian National University , which was 36th in the world for social sciences and 46th for physical sciences , along with other high-performers in engineering ,
University of Sydney ( 66 ) and Monash University (= 71 ).
Monash vice-chancellor Professor Margaret Gardner said she was delighted her university had placed in nine of the 11 subject areas .
“ The dedicated work of our researchers and academics contributes to building greater understanding of global challenges as we strive to pioneer innovative new solutions that establish Monash as one of the world ’ s great changemakers of the future ,” Gardner said .
UNSW and ANU also featured in the top 100 for nine subjects , while the Universities of Sydney and Queensland did so in 10 . UniMelb placed in that tier for all subjects .
Nine other Australian universities made it into the top 100 for law , more than in any other subject . They were UNSW ( 19 ), USyd ( 37 ), ANU ( 46 ), the University of Queensland ( 56 ), Monash ( 64 ), UTS (= 72 ), the University of Wollongong (= 74 ), the University of Western Australia ( 88 ) and the University of Tasmania ( 100 ).
Australia also had seven universities in the engineering top 100 and eight in the top 100 on the education table . The nation had six top 100 universities in most other subjects . ■
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