policy & reform
Hard times call for new funding strategies
Rankings of Australian universities have already slipped as budget cuts cast a long shadow and institutions seek to develop alternative sources of funding. By Louis White
Professor Ed Byrne has some bad news for the university sector. The vice-chancellor and president of Monash University believes that as the full force of the previous federal government’ s $ 2.3 billion cuts to the higher education sector are felt, the position of Australian universities in the worldwide university rankings could fall even further.
“ The full force of those cuts won’ t be felt until a few years from now,” he says.“ That’ s when you’ ll see a reduction in academic quality and the possibility of researchers leaving the profession.“ There are worrying times ahead.” The federal Labor government had already cut $ 1 billion from research and support in 2012. In addition, universities are facing growing pressure from unions to increase salaries.
Australia sits at a lowly 25th out of 29 advanced economies ranked on public investment in universities as a percentage of a country’ s gross domestic product.“ We are a vibrant sector and very resilient,” Byrne says.“ But we do need adequate investment and financial support. Running a tertiary institution is a very expensive business and to remain a top tier institution we have to keep investing.”
Australia’ s tertiary sector took a hit in the recently published Times Higher Education 2013-14 world rankings index; seven Australian universities lost ground while five advanced, including Monash, which rose from 99 to 91.
Melbourne University was again Australia’ s highest ranked university at 34 – a drop of six places from the previous year when it came in at 28.
“ The rankings are largely based on peer perceptions of academics from around the world,” Professor Glyn Davis, vicechancellor of Melbourne University, says.“ It’ s possible that international peers have marked Australia’ s universities down to reflect the reduced government support for higher education.”
Budget cuts are expected to further affect the appeal of Australian universities in worldwide surveys, as research grants recede and universities are forced to withdraw courses and make staff redundant.
“ It’ s not always easy to predict movements in rankings, given the interplay of research, reputation and confidence,” Davis says.“ But the THE editor has also argued that the disappointing outcome for Australia reflects an international view that the quality of Australia’ s universities is suffering under reduced government support.”
The rankings are based on 13 performance indicators ranging from teaching and research to international outlook.
“ The Times Higher Education rankings are the most balanced in the world –
12 | campusreview. com. au