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I’m pleased to be here representing the Minister for Education and Training, the Hon Christopher Pyne MP. Minister Pyne sends his best wishes for a successful forum.
It is a pleasure to address such a distinguished group of people who govern our universities, who sit on Councils and Senates and oversee this diverse and constantly evolving sector.
This conference creates an annual opportunity to discuss higher education reform and think about how good governance arrangements will help universities respond to future challenges.
I would make one small suggestion, though. Perhaps next year you could consider naming the forum ‘University Governance and DE-regulation’ as that is what universities need to be the best they can be.
Time and time again we heard about the financial and emotional cost of Higher Education and how hard it can be for a parent to support a child through a difficult time when they are so far away.
We will be taking what we have learnt from these consultations to advise the Government on how we might improve access to higher education for our rural and regional students.
Ensuring access to world-class education for students of all backgrounds – regional and metropolitan – must be one of the attributes of the governments’ aspiration to create the best universities in the world.
And that is what brings all of us together today—a desire to create the best university system in the world.
There is no doubt that we have a good system. Times Higher Education ranks half of our universities in the top 500 of world leading research universities. Eight are in the top 200.[1]
But we still need to do better. Standing still will see us get left behind by rising global competition. Universities across Asia are rising strongly through the rankings.
Like our Asian neighbours, we need to adapt and improve.
If we want to create the best university system in the world, we need our universities working to their strengths, meeting the needs of their students and the businesses employing them.
Minister Pyne has spoken before – at both last years and last years’ Universities Australia conference – about the seven themes guiding the Government’s approach to universities. There’s a strong correlation between these themes and the key themes for the conference.
I want to touch on these now with respect to the Government’s higher education reforms.
The first guiding principle is the importance of universities to Australia. Universities are at the heart of a civilised society and a competitive economy. We should not shackle them with an outdated funding system or needless regulation.
The Government reforms promote our second principle, university autonomy. I’ll speak more about this in a moment.
Our third principle is the importance of quality in teaching and research.
We want quality to be the signature of Australia’s higher education system. Our reforms will give universities the freedom they need to ensure quality in teaching and research and compete at the top level globally.
Our reforms are also about greater equity, which leads me to the fourth principle—the role of universities in creating opportunity for individuals from all parts of the community.
The reforms secure a demand driven system with Commonwealth support to more students, more scholarships, no unfair loan fees, and fairer sharing of costs.
Our reforms will preserve research funding, which reflects the value we place on the fifth principle – the importance of research. The quality of our research is critical to our education system and global standing.
Our sixth principle is the need for deep international engagement for our universities. Strong education and research partnerships overseas help maintain our international standing and influence.
The Government, in close consultation across the various education sectors and the wider community, is developing a comprehensive national strategy for international education to make sure Australia remains a global leader in international education.
Our final principle is the adequate resourcing of universities. I know that a funding system that gives you a sustainable basis for quality teaching, learning and research is at the top of your wish list.
Resolving higher education funding is a priority for this Government – and to do so in a way that protects the demand driven system and does not result in the reimposition of the caps on places that will lock students, especially from low SES backgrounds, out of higher education. Our reforms will help us lay the foundations for creating the best university system in the world.
So what would such a system look like?
The Government’s vision for the future of Australian higher education is characterised by opportunity and excellence.
Such a system would provide more opportunities for all students to choose to study where and what they want. Institutions would have the freedom to provide the very best education to meet the needs of their students.
Higher education would be affordable for students, with no upfront costs. Importantly, costs would be shared fairly between students and taxpayers.
Our system would provide world class teaching and research with some of our universities being among the very best in the world.
Our system would enhance both quality and access. It would provide good information to help students and their parents make decisions about study options.
It would prepare students for the jobs of the future, not only those that exist now.
Our institutions would have greater control over their budgets and their capacity to attract and keep students. They would not be weighed down by unnecessary red tape and would be trusted to do what they do best—teaching, learning and research.
And this is what the reforms are really all about—university autonomy, freedom’s needed for universities to serve their students and the wider community as well as they possibly can.
We want to give universities the ability to set their own direction, be creative and play to their strengths.
Freedom and autonomy are hallmarks of this Government’s approach to universities.
Our reform package is based on the belief that universities need greater freedom and autonomy to deal with the social and economic challenges they face and maintain their competitiveness in a rapidly changing world.
Part of the reason we place such importance of institutional freedom is that universities must be free to innovate.
You need to be able to try out new approaches to teaching and learning, and collaborate with industry and overseas partners on research, without excessive regulation or other burdens.
This is an important point, as when it comes to collaboration between business and researchers, Australia can do better. We need wherever possible to find ways to turn our research effort into something tangible—into research impact.
In May this year, the Government launched the strategy Boosting the Commercial Returns from Research. This strategy is about ensuring that we gain as much value as possible from our research effort to drive innovation in Australia.
I know you are working hard with the Government to improve collaboration with industry and excessive regulation that stifles innovation is the last thing you need.
Freedom and autonomy will also play a role in how your universities can respond to major changes around the world in how education and training is provided, driven to a large extent by the emergence of new technology.
Your ability to harness the potential of technological advancements and implement good governance arrangements for online education is going to determine how well you do in offering online education both here and overseas.
I am sure the session on the growth of online services and the emergence of MOOCs later this morning will encourage further thought about ideas for dealing with the reality of digital disruption.
We also need our universities to be in a position to take away the ideas generated through forums such as this one and be free to implement them.
Innovation is driven by universities, which is why the Government is committed to setting Universities free from unnecessary red tape and reporting requirements so that you can get on with doing what you do best—excellent teaching, learning and research.
Minister Pyne has said before that no university was ever regulated into excellence. It is only through respecting the autonomy of universities that we can have the competition that drives the excellence, diversity and innovation that we need.
The Lee Dow-Braithwaite Review of Higher Education Regulation re-established the importance in our national quality assurance processes of only having regulation that is absolutely necessary, risk based and proportional. Universities must take the lead on maintaining and enhancing their quality.
We also know from the PhillipsKPA Review of Reporting Requirements for Universities that there is considerable potential for streamlining and removing duplication in reporting.
The review revealed that universities spend over 2000 working days and up to $900,000 to gather information for 18 data collections —something I am sure you know only too well.
It is almost two years since Minister Pyne accepted the recommendations of the Lee Dow-Braithwaite Review of Higher Education Regulation and the PhillipsKPA Review of University Reporting Requirements.
He began acting on those recommendations straight away to provide for a stronger, simpler, more streamlined approach to reporting and regulation, ultimately saving your institutions time and money.
It is a good time to think about the progress we have made so far.
We have focused the role of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) and seen a dramatic turnaround in our national quality agency’s relationship with the higher education sector.
The Higher Education Standards Panel, with Professor Peter Shergold AC at the helm, continues to advise Minister Pyne and TEQSA on upholding quality and deregulating the sector.
And we are making good progress on the PhillipsKPA recommendations.
We have implemented about half to date, freeing you up from unnecessary reporting and allowing you to spend more time focused on education and research.
We have streamlined or removed several areas of duplication in reporting.
We now have a list of the major Commonwealth department and agencies’ reporting requirements for universities, as well as a reporting calendar, available on the internet.
We have established the Higher Education Data Committee to monitor progress and implementation of the recommendations.
The committee also now acts as a clearinghouse for data requests, aiming to make sure that your institutions only need to provide higher education data to government once.
And importantly, we have secured funding to create a higher education, research and international ‘datamart’—a one stop shop for access to various higher education data collections for approved users.
Deregulation is a continuous process so we will continue vigorously implementing the recommendations of the Lee-Dow Braithwaite and PhillipsKPA reviews.
There is more to be done—in consultation with you—to widen the scope of institutional freedom.
Over the next two days, you’ll have a chance to step back from your usual area of focus and look across the evolving higher education landscape in its entirety to consider the challenges facing the sector.
It is a chance to think about how we are planning for these challenges and what might be constraining us.
Are the governance frameworks, practices and processes in place positioning us to meet future challenges? Do our governing councils and boards have the right skills mix and how can we make sure they do?
The future promises more change—and we will be working hard to secure essential reforms that will expand opportunity and choice for all students, improve quality and enhance competition.
And importantly, this Government’s policies will give your universities the autonomy they need to tackle future challenges and be proudly part of a truly world-class higher education system.
Thank you.
ENDS
[1] https://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/world-university-rankings/2015/world-ranking#/search/Australia