POLICY & REFORM
campusreview.com.au
Lecture
on the
sector
The UA’s Barney Glover sounds off on
everything from ATARs to microaggressions.
By Patrick Avenell
U
niversities Australia chair and vice-chancellor of Western
Sydney University Barney Glover spoke in Canberra in early
March on a range of issues affecting the higher education
sector. Campus Review was there to capture his thoughts in this
special Q&A.
CR: With uncapped fees so broadly unpopular in the community,
what methods are there for universities to remain financially viable?
BG: The Keep it Clever policy statement that Universities Australia
released last October provided a clear [expression] of our position
in relation to the funding of our education, and it [still stands]. We
are strongly advocating that cuts are off the table [that we should]
remove the 20 per cent cut, the 3.25 per cent efficiency dividend,
and cuts through the Research Training Scheme.
[In addition to that], maintain the level of public investment in
Australia’s universities. There is a very important conversation
around innovation that’s going on nationally; the prime minister
10
and the leader of the opposition have placed it firmly at the centre
of their economic policies for the future. We need to recognise that
research is an important core characteristic of driving innovation.
The NISA (National Innovation and Science Agenda) was
important in resetting the conversation around national research
infrastructure. It hasn’t gone far enough. Beyond the national
research infrastructure that it will support, there’s a broader research
infrastructure question for Australia. We need to hear that addressed.
NISA was a beginning for the reinvestment into research in this
country to underpin innovation, so we need to see the detail of that.
What are your thoughts on the ongoing ATAR debate? Is it
concerning that low ATAR scoring students are being accepted into
high ATAR courses?
I think there’s a role to play for ATAR but we should probably get
some of the basic information around pathways to university
understood.
The ATAR system remains a valuable ranking system for many
of our universities but it is a creation of a time when we had the
capped system. Now we have an uncapped system, a demanddriven system. The ATAR can only be one part of the pathway
to university. Universities have been incredibly successful in
finding pathways for mature-age students who are many years
removed from formal education, along with students from
low-SES (socioeconomic status) backgrounds and educationally
disadvantaged backgrounds.