university leaders welcome higher education reform

The Age 14 March 2008; The Australian 14 March 2008

At last week’s Australian Financial Review’s Higher Education Summit, the Federal Minister for Education, Employment
and Workplace Relations, Ms Julia Gillard, announced that the higher education sector will undergo a review, which will take into account funding, student accessibility and teaching standards.

A panel, which will be headed by the President of the Australian College of Educators, Ms Denise Bradley, will conduct
the higher education review, will report their findings to the government in October and present a final paper by the end
of this year.

Although the announcement was warmly received by state ministers, vice-chancellors and students, some have claimed that without a sufficient course of action and additional funding, the review would ‘do little to improve the sector’. Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne and Chairperson of the Australia 2020 Summit, Professor Glyn Davis, has
urged universities to ‘unite to find solutions to the funding problem’.

Ms Gillard believes that the review is the first step in a ‘system-wide rethink’, but she provided no specific details on additional funding or on how the government plans to meet its long-term objective to offer ‘guaranteed access to higher education or skills training for every young Australian with the talent and willingness to give it a go’.

Furthermore, Ms Gillard believes that higher education is ‘at the heart of our efforts to create a more productive and prosperous economy and a more productive society’, and that ‘if you want to know why investing in higher education is important, simply look at the waiting lists in your hospital or GP surgery, the lack of subject choice in your child's school, the rising cost of items in the shops and at your monthly bank balance’.

 

 

Back to News Page