Monash Memo - articles - 31 October 2001

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After Election 2001:
Key Higher Education Issues

Monash has called upon the winner of the upcoming federal election to urgently strengthen Australia's higher education system.

In a statement sent this week to all Victorian candidates in the election and to all federal ministers and shadow ministers, Monash has identified five key 'gap' issues that the next government must address.

The statement, 'After Election 2001 - Key Higher Education Issues', has been endorsed by the University Council and signed by the chancellor, Mr Jerry Ellis, the vice-chancellor, Professor David Robinson, the president of the Monash branch of the National Tertiary Education Union, Ms Dale Halstead, and the leaders of student associations.

On the release of the statement this week, Professor Robinson said leading universities such as Monash were essential components of state and national infrastructure and the next government would be judged by how well it supported the higher education sector in its role in the development of individuals.

"To have average universities in Australia is not good enough. Any further slide towards being significantly below average on an international scale will be disastrous. The next government must ensure these five gaps are bridged, and urgently," he said.

"This statement has received unqualified support from the University Council and from staff and Monash student organisations."

The statement argues that if Australia is to participate fully in the knowledge-based global economy, it must urgently bridge the gaps in the following five areas:

Research and development

Increase investment in R&D to at least the OECD average

Student funding

Increase funding per student and improve income support for students

Opportunity

Enable students from a wider variety of backgrounds to enter university

Infrastructure

Develop a national approach to securing greater access to equipment, IT systems, physical infrastructure and core support services

International development

Address visa, immigration and other non-education barriers and stimulate more strategic international partnerships between universities, government and industry

In addressing each of these areas, the statement details the significant ground still to be made up in our higher education sector.

After Election 2001

The research and development gap

Monash conducts high-level research in each of its 10 faculties and is one of the most successful universities in winning national competitive funding from the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council. Many colleagues, such as the group researching embryonic stem cells, are world leaders in their field.

Yet, investment in R&D by government and business continues to decline in real terms and as a percentage of GDP. The gap between Australia and the OECD average has widened significantly since 1995 - all forecasts suggest it will continue to do so, and reach $3 billion per annum by 2005. R&D in the emerging disciplines is reliant on a strong base in the enabling disciplines of arts, humanities, mathematics and sciences. And since these disciplinary areas are highly dependent on HECs undergraduate places and Commonwealth-funded postgraduate scholarships, substantial national support is essential. The investment in support of Backing Australia's Ability and the proposed investment in the Knowledge Nation will only make a small impression on the widening research and development gap.

So, if Australia is not to fall further behind both the OECD average and its own mid-1990s level of investment - with serious consequences for our position in the global economy and our social and cultural prosperity - industry and the next government must increase investment in R&D to a level approaching the OECD average, and so begin to bridge 'the research and development gap'.

After Election 2001 continued

The student funding gap

Monash's 45,000 students study an extensive range of undergraduate and postgraduate course programs across the enabling and applied sciences, the humanities and social sciences, and the major professional areas.

Yet public funding per student has declined steadily for the past 15 years. The introduction of HECS and full-fee paying has not been sufficient to offset the decline in Commonwealth funding. This, together with the absence since 1996 of any funding for pay increases for university staff, has resulted in universities operating with significantly higher student to staff ratios, over-crowded facilities, and a decreasing ability to compete with leading comparable institutions in North America, in Western Europe and, now, in the Asian region. The recent national survey of student finances has revealed a disturbing picture of financial hardship, of increasing debt levels and of full-time students averaging 15 hours of paid work per week during semester, with detrimental effect on both study patterns and broader university life.

So, if Australia is to have the range and quality of staffing and institutional infrastructure approaching the level of universities in comparator countries, and a student body with sufficient financial support to take full advantage of their university opportunity, the next government must increase funding per publicly funded student, tackle imaginatively the issue of income support for students, and so address 'the student funding gap'.

The opportunity gap

Monash draws its students from a wide variety of backgrounds. In addition to attracting a significant proportion of the school leavers with very high ENTER scores, the university makes higher education available to many people who otherwise would not have had such an opportunity. It does this through a range of mentoring, access, transition and pathway programs and by providing equity and merit scholarships for students from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds, with resources redirected from its teaching budget.

Yet, despite such efforts by Monash and many other universities, the Australian higher education student body still does not reflect the distribution of the overall population in significant respects; tertiary entrance rates are disproportionately low, particularly for indigenous Australians and those from non-metropolitan and low socio-economic backgrounds.

So, if Australia is to ensure that all those who can benefit from higher education - and so contribute fully to the development of the country - get the opportunity to do so, the next government must reappraise equitable access pathways, draw on the range of good practice from a variety of institutions, direct additional funding toward programs of proven benefit, and so begin to bridge 'the opportunity gap'.

The infrastructure gap

Monash invests heavily in its equipment, IT systems, physical infrastructure and core academic support services in order to provide the best environment it can afford for excellent teaching, learning and research.

Yet, in today's higher education world, much of the essential infrastructure for top-quality academic endeavour is well beyond the means of any single university or even group of institutions. The recently announced, Victorian Government-financed, Australian national synchrotron facility, to be located adjacent to the Monash Clayton campus, is a good case in point. But there is as yet no strategic national approach to several other aspects of essential infrastructure, such as high-speed bandwidth provision, online courseware development facilities and national site licenses for expensive international journal series.

So, if Australian universities are to compete satisfactorily in world higher education, the next government must review systematically the key components of essential infrastructure and ensure system-wide access to these facilities and services, and so bridge 'the infrastructure gap'.

The international development gap

Monash, with 12,000 international students from over100 countries speaking 90 languages of first choice, has played a leading role in the development of Australia's international education activities, which now earn for the nation over $4 billion per annum - more than many 'traditional' industries such as wheat and wool.

Yet, higher education is insufficiently recognised as a key 'industry' in its own right, as opposed to being merely a supporter of the education and research needs of other industries. To play its full part in the global knowledge-based economy, Australia must increase cutting edge university international activity and the flow of high-quality students between Australia and the major countries of the region and the world.

So, if Australia is to benefit fully from the international capacities of its universities, the next government must address visa, immigration and other non-education barriers to the expansion of international education and to the attraction and retention of high quality students - particularly postgraduates, stimulate strategic partnerships between universities, government and industry in key areas of national export value such as environmental industries, information and communication technology and biotechnology, and so help to bridge 'the international development gap'.

The urgent need to bridge the gaps

For Australia, a small nation with few natural allies, having average universities will not be good enough. To allow any further sliding toward being significantly below average will be disastrous. To 'punch above our weight' in the Knowledge Games, as we did so successfully in the Olympic Games, the next government must ensure that the five gaps are bridged, and urgently.

* Mr Jerry Ellis, Chancellor

* Professor David Robinson, Vice-Chancellor and President

* Professor Alan Lindsay, Chairman of Academic Board

* Ms Dale Halstead, President Monash Branch, National Tertiary Education Union

* Ms Eleina Tava, President, Monash Postgraduate Association

* Mr Luke Hilakari, President, Monash Student Association

* Mr Kenny Lee, President, Monash University Caulfield Student Union

* Mr Colin Wolfe, President, Monash University Peninsula Student Union

* Mr Ken Hulls, President, Monash University Gippsland Student Union

* Mr Ken Giffin, President, Monash University Berwick Student Union

October 2001