Abstract:
Marginalising academics in the University debate.
In a recent speech at the National Press Club, ANU Vice-Chancellor and Chairman of the Group of Eight Ian Young outlined his vision for an Australia built on the brilliance of its people. Drawing perhaps a little too much inspiration from Australia’s ongoing success in the Commonwealth Games, VC Young spoke about deregulation as the ‘game changer’ in terms of ‘developing future research gold medallists’, and creating universities that ‘punch above their weight on the international stage’. While Ian Young continually emphasised the potential for excellence and brilliance, he retained a pragmatic view of what he described as Australia’s not-yet-brilliant higher-education system. And while he deplored what he described as the ‘perverse incentive that rewards universities for enrolling as many students as possible and teaching them as cheaply as possible’, he did not make it particularly clear how this would change in a deregulated environment. Here it is worth asking, and I quote Professor Peter Dawkins: ‘Are we happy that universities with strong brands could now charge high fees to make margins that are then reinvested in the brand via increases in research funding, rather than in enhancing student experience?’
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