The Opposition promised yesterday to “”give universities their autonomy back” by repealing the Government’s university funding model passed late last year.
Under the Government’s new model each university has to provide the Minister (in this case Peter Baldwin) with an educational profile. Based on that and the total appropriated for all 34 universities, the Minister decides how much money each university gets and the Minister can ensure the university follows its educational profile.
The Opposition spokesman on education, Dr David Kemp, said this Dawkins model (largely framed by the former Minister, John Dawkins) made universities subservient to ministerial will.
“”Universities cannot be independent if the Government controls the purse strings,” he said. “”But the question is how do you provide a Commonwealth subsidy without control?”
The Opposition proposed that universities should be able to determine their own admissions policy and courses. Each university would have the flexibility to offer the mix of courses at the standard it thought best. Students would apply to the university they thought best armed with a voucher called a National Education Award. Student demand therefore would determine universities’ direction.
“”Institutions will appeal according to quality,” Dr Kemp said. “”They will seek to maintain their reputation so they can attract students and the funds they would bring with their National Education Awards.”
This way the Government could provide money without compromising the autonomy of universities. The Dawkins model’s insistence of educational profiles and bureaucratic control of what universities did was an admission of failure.
Universities would continue to ensure their qualifications were accepted by the professions because students would demand it. The Opposition’s system would ensure universities pursued quality. Further it would give them the flexibility to specialise or concentrate in providing quality courses in particular areas.
Dr Kemp said also that the Opposition did not accept Mr Baldwin’s policy of not permitting the Government’s new senior research fellowships to be taken at ANU. he said that was based on a spurious equity argument that had nothing to do with providing researchers money to do research at the most suitable institution.
The Opposition would emphasise basic research. Post-graduate awards would be increased by $2000 a year and a Coalition Government would provide $25 million for basic research.