policy & reform of the demand-driven regime, with the associated risk to the international standing of our universities. There is a need to assess what is being achieved and whether it is the best use of scarce resources, in particular in terms of providing support to less academically prepared students.
“ I am not advocating a return to capping university enrolments, but I believe there are more cost-effective ways of achieving the goal of increased participation, particularly in terms of low-SES students, than simply increasing the volume of enrolments. A greater focus on pathway programs is essential.”
Hilmer has called for a coherent longterm research strategy for Australia, based on competitive excellence and more adequate resourcing of the sector. He believes deregulation of student fees should be considered.
Professor Peter Coaldrake, vicechancellor of the Queensland University of Technology, which is not a member of the Group of Eight, can see both sides of the debate.
“ Institutions that choose to are able to expand to offer more places to applicants where there is room for them to do so,” Coaldrake says.“ This takes the decision about quotas away from centralised allocation to one more responsive to each university’ s circumstances.
“[ But it also ] increases the public cost of higher education, and at the broadest level there is a balance between volume and the investment that needs to be provided to service that volume. We could have twice as many places funded at half the price, but that would cause great problems. At present, such disadvantages have not materialised because base funding has been maintained more or less in real terms.”
Coaldrake believes the Australian Government needs to examine the overall system for administering students’ university entrances.
“ There are three distinct issues here,” he says.“ How many places should the government subsidise? What level of funding is needed to provide the education we expect for each place? What share of that level should be borne by government and what by students?
“ Universities need a certain level of resourcing to do their jobs properly, but they are concerned about the extent to which the responsibility for providing that amount is being transferred to students. The worst of all possible outcomes is that students pay more and universities receive less. There should also be reasonable limits on what debts graduates take on, even when covered by HECS-style loans.”
Therein lies the real problem – and it may offer a hint at what Pyne is after. What funding model does the Australian Government have in mind for higher education institutions? If the education minister has commissioned Kemp and Norton to review the higher education system, and Norton has recently released a paper outlining strong views against capping student numbers, could the real purpose of the review be to look at alternative funding models? Is it time for the higher education sector to become more aggressive in raising funds, like American universities?
Monish Paul, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu’ s lead partner national education and WA public sector, says universities do need to be looking for new approaches.
“ With changes to university funding models likely to continue to evolve under the new Australian Government, it is timely campusreview. com. au | 15