Universities Eye The Perilous Path Of Two-tier Schooling

The Age

Friday March 24, 2006

Bids for higher fees suggest the fight for public funding is lost. But it is a fight that most institutions, students and the nation cannot afford to lose.

UNIVERSITY of Melbourne vice-chancellor Glyn Davis replaced federal Education Minister Julie Bishop as a speaker at a higher education conference this week. His confronting message may have caused the minister to regret her withdrawal as he spelt out the stark options confronting Australia's chronically underfunded public universities. His call for radical changes, which would give institutions much greater freedom to determine their course offerings and fees, drew this response from Ms Bishop: "In order to deregulate, the sector needs to demonstrate to government and the community that they can deliver excellence, equity and access, and maintain the national interest in fields of study." The problem with that response is that Professor Davis drew attention to just how incompatible these goals are with falling Commonwealth spending on universities over three decades.

The shortfall between funding and costs has put institutions such as Melbourne University in the invidious position of having to declare that they need to be able to look after themselves if they are to maintain their standing. "Public universities cannot wait for governments to rescue them," Professor Davis said, "but must make their own choices." He estimated that, at best, government funding per student this year is two-thirds of that provided in 1976. By 2004, the system had lost public funding worth about $2.5 billion a year even as it faced competition from a growing private sector, which promotes a flexible array of choices and advantages, at a price. Private universities with access to government loan schemes are now equal in number to public universities, which have suffered a drop in enrolments for the first time in 50 years. If this calls to mind the crisis in public schools, Professor Davis makes the link explicit. "As we already know from the schools sector, parents and students will drive past a good-quality public institution to access private education ... As with private schools, students will pay for desired values and contacts."

For the minority who can afford it, there's nothing wrong with that. For the remaining majority, and anyone who understands that national prosperity and stability are built on merit-based, equitable education, the concern must be what becomes of the public system. How, asks Professor Davies, do public universities remain of high quality and standing, rather than residual providers for those who cannot afford the private alternative? In fact, his preference is better public funding. The Age shares this view - for reasons of uniform "excellence, equity and access", to quote the minister. Victoria University vice-chancellor Elizabeth Harman said her Melbourne University colleague was basically saying, "I give up, we can raise fees ... the rest of you are going to have to cope the best you can". Her response highlights the problems for all but the elite few universities, although there is a strong case for greater flexibility in meeting needs and demands for the courses each university is best able to provide. But one observation by Professor Davis, lamenting universities' inability to win support for public funding, hints strongly at where he is coming from: "We know a lot about how ideas find their way to the political agenda. Crisis helps."

Indeed, one can argue that public concern about the two-tier private-public school system has begun to produce better state funding for schools. It's a fairly bleak hope that a similar fate for universities might lead to a similar turnaround in public opinion and funding, yet that may be what it takes. Even then, Australia may never fully recover the ground lost in a generation of neglect. Given that Ms Bishop has approvingly noted public investments in education and research in China, Japan, India and the US as a matter of national economic and strategic policy - this also applies to South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia - surely Australia must eventually wise up. Professor Davis deliberately sets his provocative proposals against a simple alternative: "Wouldn't it be better, and easier, if we could just persuade government to provide more money for our public universities?" The question is how much damage will be done to universities and the national interest before the penny drops.

© 2006 The Age

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