campusreview . com . au policy & reform universities so that they ’ re not swamped by this wave of change that is coming up ?
A couple of things that I would say about the job-ready graduates is , what we were trying to really look at is that the funding system was broken . And how do we fix that ? Also , how do we address this inequity of the regional versus the urban ? And then there was a third element , which is that the Australian population was growing at a very remarkable rate , but the funding was frozen .
Because of the Costello baby boom you had this massive increase in the number of students . So how are you going to handle those ? How do you educate 100,000 more Australians on a financially sustainable basis ? One that also delivers better equity outcomes , particularly for the group from our rural and regional areas .
I think there ’ s a bit of a timing issue or a temporal issue . The digitalisation , the gig economy and the internationalisation – that really becomes a focus from about November 2020 . So that ’ s a year later that starts under minister Tehan , but then is picked up by minister Tudge . And that plays into minister Tudge ’ s background and his interests . The problem has been set out , the research work has been done , but we still don ’ t have the legislation that ’ s being proposed . And the universities had to respond to that legislation .
At the University of Newcastle , we ’ re absolutely reading those tea leaves . We ’ re doing that internal pivot , but we ’ re just not at the point yet of where strong policy comes through that you ’ ve got to respond to . If I can use a historical analogy , it ’ s like 2010 . We all knew we were going to go to a demanddriven system in 2012 , but you could have read the tea leaves in 2010 , and a few people did – Australian Catholic University being the boldest example . They really shifted the ship at that stage , so that by the time the policy came in 2012 , to be honest , they were well ahead of many others .
I do think most of the universities have seen these tea leaves , and I do think they ’ re making those pivots , but part of the challenge with the 40 universities is they ’ re not all poised to read the tea leaves as well . So there ’ s probably a third that know absolutely what ’ s going on , and they ’ ve moved or are moving . There ’ s probably a third who , to be honest , have no idea what ’ s going on . And there ’ s probably a third who get a sense of it , but they ’ re waiting to see what the leaders are doing and then they ’ ll fall into the slipstream .
The department ’ s also embarking on a 10-year international strategy for higher education . What do you see to be the opportunities there ? I actually think this is a really , really critical piece of policy and long-term vision-setting that the sector – because of COVID and everything else – probably hasn ’ t engaged with as deeply as it justifies . It ’ s actually not the department leading this , it ’ s the Council for International Education . That ’ s a really unique body that doesn ’ t exist in any other country . You ’ ve got six ministers on it , and you ’ ve got 11 expert members representing whole groups or different bits of the international education .
My concerns with regards to that 10-year policy is the crisis of COVID , particularly as it impacts international education , and particularly as it impacts the front end of the pipeline of international education , so English language providers and pathway providers . It ’ s life threatening , and that can take a lot of focus , but I hope that doesn ’ t distract from what I think is actually the more important game , the 10-year game .
Let ’ s build back after COVID , but build back better . And remember that phrase came out of the Boxing Day tsunami , which meant , let ’ s not replicate the problems of the past ; let ’ s actually address some of those things as we rebuild .
Once we do get out of the pandemic , are we going to see new business models ? Will our 40 universities start to look more different from each other in the future ? That ’ s the hope . So let me go back to job-ready graduates . Probably the biggest reform that ’ s in there is unseen : it was intellectually trying to create greater diversity in the sector . What we were trying to do was actually give more regulatory space in which to operate , which would allow a university by its mission and by its council to choose different paths .
Let me give two examples . The first one is Swinburne . You ’ ve got the City of Melbourne with a number of universities in it , and you ’ ve got Swinburne , which is a newer university with a technological focus . You ’ ve got a new vice chancellor , Pascale Quester , who has made a firm commitment that rather than trying to do everything for everyone , they ’ re going to make a commitment to being true to their mission that will take them down a very distinctive route .
Take University of Newcastle as another example . Our catchment area by our statute
Let ’ s not replicate the problems of the past ; let ’ s actually address some of those things as we rebuild .
is a geographical catchment area larger than Belgium . That has a social distribution that covers all five quintiles , but is skewed towards the lower half .
Now , as a comprehensive public university and the only one servicing an area the size of Belgium , do we have the chance to run a Swinburne model ? Absolutely not ; nor should we , because we have to be tied to the community hand in glove . It ’ s only because of the community that we ’ re here and it ’ s only because of the community that we serve .
We have to offer nursing . We have to offer teaching . We have to offer science . We have to offer the arts because that is the diversity of the people of the area we ’ re in . So those are two different lanes that have been picked , but they ’ re dependent upon geography and community .
I think in Australia and across the world , there ’ s a huge opportunity for private education and Edtech . It is the Uber . And I use that in the sense of a new player , who ’ s not held back by the tradition and who can move in different areas . I think that will be important and it will be servicing part of the sector , but there ’ s still a role for classical universities .
I think some universities have an ability to be narrow and niche because of their geography and because their communities are served by a variety of providers . I think others have the opportunity or the mission to serve a broader and a flatter mission . So , if you think of one cutting horizontal and one cutting vertical , that means they ’ re both exciting . The reason they ’ re exciting is because they ’ re not the same thing .
I actually think one of the weaknesses of the Australian system is our lack of student mobility , but hopefully this encourages it . If what I want is a degree in the tropics , I go up to JCU . If what I want is an intense technical one , I go down to Swinburne . If what I want is something connected with the community in which I reside , I stay in the region and I go to University of Newcastle . Three different stories for three different learners . ■
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