Melbourne's Uni Revolution

The Age

Wednesday November 16, 2005

By SHANE GREEN and DAVID ROOD

MELBOURNE University is set to pioneer a revolution in Australian tertiary education, in which students will have to complete a general degree before taking on specialist courses.

The new system - mirroring the course structure of American universities - could generate more revenue for Melbourne University through the charging of full fees for specialist graduate courses.

The university also expects to reduce student numbers by up to 10,000 under the new system.

Under the two-tiered degree structure, students would have to take a general three-year degree, such as science, arts or commerce, and would then have the opportunity to apply for graduate degrees such as law or medicine.

The professional graduate system already operates across the US, and Europe plans to adopt it from 2010.

Unveiled by vice-chancellor Glyn Davis, the blueprint is motivated by the need to ensure the university's degrees are internationally recognised.

The 10-year plan is underpinned by a further push towards more students paying for their education.

Most local graduate students would pay full fees for their professional courses - supported by the Federal Government's existing deferred loan scheme.

Graduate students would make up a third of enrolments, compared with a quarter now.

Professor Davis said the increased revenue would allow the university to reduce student numbers from a projected peak of almost 50,000 to as few as 35,000. This would improve staff-student ratios and the quality of education.

Professor Davis said the university was currently being forced to take larger numbers of students, as government funding per student had been falling for more than 20 years.

"We say in the paper that we are public spirited," he said. "We can't really call ourselves a public university any more, when only 23 per cent of our income is directly guaranteed by the Federal Government."

Professor Davis predicted opposition to some aspects of the plan, including the drive towards user-pays.

He also acknowledged the vision was "unconventional in Australian terms . . . of what a university should be".

"It's not a complete departure," he said. "We're not abandoning everything we do. But it is saying we're going to try to steer ourselves in a direction that makes us more targeted, more focused, not larger."

The plan is based on three principles: world-class research, the move towards graduate schools and community engagement. Currently before the university's governing council, the plan requires further deregulation of higher education by the Federal Government.

It controversially argues for the removal of the 35 per cent cap on local fee-paying students, and lifting the $50,000 ceiling on the fee-paying loan scheme. Melbourne also wants to transfer some of its undergraduate government-supported places to graduate courses.

"We're not asking for more money, we're asking for more latitude," Professor Davis said.

He said the 35 per cent cap did not apply to international students. "And that just provides an incentive to fill courses with international students, rather than Australian students," he said.

Federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson, who has been briefed by Professor Davis, said he supported the general direction of the proposed changes. But a spokesman said there were no plans to lift the 35 per cent cap on local fee-paying students.

Opposition education spokeswoman Jenny Macklin reacted cautiously, saying she looked forward to seeing how the proposals took shape. "But we must ensure that student diversity is not compromised in our universities," she said. "An excellent university education must be accessible to everyone, not just those who are willing to pay for it."

Victorian Education Minister Lynne Kosky supported the general thrust towards the graduate study system but cautioned against losing undergraduate government-supported places.

? Melbourne University announced yesterday that a merger with the Victorian College of the Arts would proceed after the university council approved an agreement between the institutions.

ANALYSIS Shane Green NEWS 2

HOW IT WORKS

GENERAL UNDERGRADUATE

COURSES

? Entry based on ENTER scores

? Three-year courses

? Government-funded and

full-fee-paying places

? Graduates can apply for any postgraduate

course

POSTGRADUATE PROFESSIONAL

COURSES

? Entry based on university results

? Two to three years

? Mostly full-fee-paying places

ARTS --> LAW

POLITICAL SCIENCE

SCIENCE --> MEDICINE

DENTISTRY

PHYSIOTHERAPY

ADVANCED NURSING

COMMERCE --> SPECIALIST ACCOUNTING

ACTUARIAL STUDIES

DESIGN AND PLANNING --> ARCHITECTURE

TOWN PLANNING

© 2005 The Age

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