POLICY & REFORM campusreview . com . au
“ This review is about seeing if this good system can step up to help Australia tackle some big policy challenges .
Lasting change
Where are the Uni Accord ’ s big ideas that will change higher ed for good ?
By Martin Betts and Mary O ’ Kane
A major review of our higher education sector , on a scale not seen since Dawkins or Bradley , is a time for ideas . Our times call for these ideas to be big , bold , and radical , because so much depends on it .
Australian universities have been successful and innovative and at the heart of skill development , capacity building , knowledge creation and transfer , and the international reputation and relationships that served us well .
Our universities have seen growth in scale , student numbers , research performance , campus development , and income-generating innovations , all competitive on a global scale .
Yet the Universities Accord has been initiated because of our ambition as a nation to do more , our confidence that we can do even better , and because we need to prepare for a future that requires higher education more than ever before .
At the heart of the review that Minister Clare initiated , whose Panel ’ s discussion paper was launched at the recent UA Conference , is the concept of an Accord .
As Jenny Macklin a member of the Panel appropriately defined it :
“ Accords bring people together to discuss challenges and agree a joint path forward . In higher education this could mean a continuous and dynamic process of government coming together with universities , higher education providers , students , business , unions , and community leaders , to agree on the best way that higher education can meet Australia ’ s economic , cultural , and social aspirations and allow them to be continually developed over time .”
New governments often initiate reviews in areas that are not working well but this review was always going to be a bit different as we actually have a pretty impressive higher education system .
This review is about seeing if this good system can step up to help Australia
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