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Thank you Professor (Ian) Young for your introduction.
It’s a real pleasure to be here this evening, and I appreciate the opportunity to address this gathering of university leaders from leading universities around the Pacific rim.
It’s also great to be in the surrounds of the beautiful National Arboretum here in our capital.
An arboretum shares some common purposes with universities – science, research, education and community benefit – so this is a particularly fitting venue to host this occasion.
I’d like to acknowledge the work of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities in helping shape international higher education and research, fostering leadership and working on solutions to regional challenges.
Australia proudly has four universities among the Association’s 45 members – the Australian National University, the University of Melbourne, the University of New South Wales and the University of Sydney.
I would like to acknowledge the contribution these universities have made to the consultative process around the Government’s higher education reform package announced in our recent Budget.
We are proud of our universities. They have considerable track records of excellence in l teaching and research.
They provide a high quality education to their students, domestic and international, and many have built long lasting international partnerships.
Every institution represented here tonight has, I am sure, a government that wants its higher education system to be as good as it can be, with universities undertaking teaching, research, and service of the highest quality.
This is important for the opportunities for our people, the quality of our societies, and the prosperity and competitiveness of our economies.
The Australian Government knows that our universities are capable of achieving even greater things, so we are committed to building a higher education system that can be counted even more highly amongst the very best in the world.
This is a serious ambition, one we need to achieve if we wish to continue our strong record of international engagement and meet the ever changing challenges of global competition.
Last month in a speech at Monash University, the Minister for Education outlined his view of what a world-leading higher education system might look like in the Australian context.
He listed the following features:
- It would provide more opportunities for students from all backgrounds and students would have a wide diversity of choices.
- It would be affordable for students, with both students and the taxpayer contributing to the cost of their education.
- Students could choose to study where and when they want and universities and higher education colleges would have the freedom to provide the very best education in the world to meet the needs of their students.
- It would provide world class teaching and research with some of its universities among the very best in the world.
- Government’s role would be to assist students and promote research, and to uphold the quality of the system without unnecessary red tape, ensuring the taxpayer’s contribution is well spent.
Tonight I’d like to give you an overview of the Government’s higher education reforms, and the steps we are taking toward realising this ambition.
For some decades until 2012, the university system in Australia, which is overwhelmingly a public university system, was essentially based – with rare exceptions – on the Australian Government deciding both how many undergraduate student places a university could offer, and how much it could charge as a student contribution.
Each student has, on average, most of the cost of their education subsidised by the Government, contributing the remainder themselves.
They usually pay the student contribution through borrowing the money under what is now called the Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP), not having to make repayments until they earn a reasonable income, currently this threshold is over $50,000 a year.
In 2012 the Australian Government introduced the demand driven funding system. This meant that the Government no longer determined the number of bachelor-level student places for which it would provide a subsidy.
This gave access to higher education to many more Australian students than was previously the case.
However, access to Government-funded places, with only a small number of exceptions, was still limited to a single group of higher education institutions – public universities – while other institutions including private universities, colleges and vocational education institutions miss out.
Not only does this disadvantage institutions, but more importantly it also disadvantages students.
Innovation and quality are also limited by excessive regulation.
Our reforms will remove these limitations and help our universities and other higher education institutions create what we believe will be one of the world’s best higher education systems, with some of the best universities in the world.
Global competition in higher education is intense.
Rankings are a very imprecise measure, but they do give us an indication of how the international landscape is changing for higher education.
We have noted with interest and admiration the recent rapid climb of many universities in the Asia-Pacific region in various rankings.
This is a remarkable achievement that highlights the dynamic environment in which higher education institutions are operating.
Australian higher education clearly needs to be at the top of its game to be a global force – both in competition and collaboration.
Australia will find it difficult to compete internationally with an outdated funding system that constrains innovation, and does not foster the diversity and freedom necessary for us to thrive on the world stage.
For this reason, and to spread opportunity to more Australian students, is why our higher education system has to change.
We are formulating a new strategy for international education that will build on Australia’s proud tradition of reaching out and collaborating across the globe – exchanging ideas and practical cooperation.
Nothing exemplifies our desire to reinvigorate our international connectivity more than the New Colombo Plan – the Government’s signature initiative to encourage young Australians to work and study in the Asia-Pacific.
The New Colombo Plan encourages Australian students to undertake study abroad in the Asia-Pacific region and aims to transform the mindset of students and their families, and to make studying in the region a rite of passage for Australian undergraduates.
Wherever possible, this overseas study will be combined with a work internship or a mentoring arrangement.
Through this greater presence of Australian students across the region, we hope to deepen people-to-people relations between Australia and our neighbours, and to strengthen understanding of Asia and the Pacific in Australia.
We also hope to encourage greater interest in Australian universities and more international students to come to Australia.
This year’s pilot phase includes a mobility programme which will see an expected 1300 students undertake study and internship programmes in the pilot destinations.
The pilot will also support approximately 40 scholarships for Australian undergraduates with the opportunity for one or two semesters of study and an internship or mentorship.
Hundreds of students are already studying and undertaking work experience placements in Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia and Singapore, and a second round of offers to give further students the opportunity to study in the region was made last month.
This is on top of other initiatives we have to promote regional and global mobility for students.
In April the Prime Minister announced that the New Colombo Plan will be extended to China and Korea in 2015.
Foreign Minister, The Hon Julie Bishop, recently announced that she would be writing to regional counterparts inviting them to join program.
The need for diversity in higher education was emphasised in a recent article by Professors Gareth Evans and Ian Young, the Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor of the Australian National University.
They said:
It is time to change our one-size-fits-all funding system and let diversity develop. Changes to the system will be controversial, but real change is required if Australia is to offer its young people a real choice in education and produce graduates to match the best in the world.
They went on to say:
If Australia is to develop universities which can truly compete internationally… we have to not only allow, but encourage, diversity by removing the constraints that prevent innovation.
To achieve this diversity, we are absolutely committed to giving our universities the autonomy they need to pursue their own goals without unnecessary interference from Government.
As Minister Pyne said in his speech to Universities Australia earlier this year “it is only through respecting the autonomy of universities that we can have the competition that drives the excellence, diversity and innovation we need.”
He said that “universities must be free to innovate – to try out new approaches to teaching and learning, and to research, untrammelled by excessive regulation and other burdens.”
The reforms we announced in last month’s Budget will allow universities to set their own direction.
Broadly, the measures will:
- Strengthen the higher education system
- Expand opportunities for students
- Invest in research, and
- Deliver a sustainable system overall.
From 2016, for the first time in some decades, our universities will be able to set their own fees.
Fee deregulation will help universities and other institutions to provide a diversity of choices for students and the quality of courses that we need.
Universities and colleges will have to compete for students – and students will win.
They will win on choice.
They will win on quality.
And they will win on value for money.
At the heart of this new era of freedom and competition is a massive expansion of access to Government-supported higher education.
We are extending Government-funded places to all registered higher education institutions including private universities, and public and private non-university higher education institutions.
Government funding will also be available to all undergraduate courses including higher education diplomas, advanced diplomas and associate degrees.
This expansion will see the Government supporting more than 80 000 additional students in higher education by 2018 – including some 48 000 in sub-degree courses, and 35 000 in bachelor courses.
And Australian students will not need to pay a single dollar upfront.
The expansion is supported by our Higher Education Loan Programme, which we are working to make more sustainable to ensure it will continue to give all Australian students access to higher education.
A strong focus on equity is integral to these changes.
Students from disadvantaged backgrounds will have access to what may be the largest Commonwealth Scholarship scheme, as we call it, in this country’s history.
Higher education institutions will be required to allocate 20 per cent of the additional revenue they raise through fee deregulation to a new Commonwealth Scholarships scheme.
This will include needs-based scholarships to help meet costs of living, fee exemptions, mentoring, tutorial support and other assistance at critical points in a student’s study.
Importantly, the scheme will help students from regional Australia and outer metropolitan areas, students from disadvantaged backgrounds, and others who are first in their family to access and complete higher education qualifications.
These scholarships will help students to get the university education that is right for them.
Central to the reforms also is investing in Australia’s research capacity – both infrastructure and human talent – to help us compete internationally and build on our already strong reputation.
Underpinning all these measures is a commitment to quality, coupled with a focus on minimising unnecessary regulation.
We have a national agency responsible for quality assurance in higher education – the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA). It remains as a guard against poor quality courses and institutions in an expanding higher education system.
The Government is requiring the agency to sharpen its focus on its core functions of institution registration and course accreditation as we open the system, and as the number of students supported by the Government and taxpayers continues to grow.
Through a focus on risk, proportionality and necessity, TEQSA will ensure the maintenance of higher education standards to protect students and the quality and reputation of Australian higher education.
To ensure that competition drives quality, students and families will have clear information about the quality of courses and institution they are considering.
This will involve new student and employer surveys available online that provide information about how successful previous graduates have been at securing jobs, and what other students and employers think of courses and institutions.
Giving our higher education institutions the freedom and confidence to focus on what they do best – delivering high quality teaching, learning and research – will also help keep our international engagement strong.
Australia has a long standing tradition of welcoming international students to our shores. This has built lifelong people-to-people links that foster business and research partnerships which in turn may lead to international collaborations.
The Government is committed to making sure that Australia remains an attractive destination for undergraduate and postgraduate students from all over the world.
And we must have a flow of students both ways if we are to build knowledge and understanding for individuals and nations.
To further strengthen our competitiveness in international education, we are also:
- developing a new framework for international education that will sustain it through decades of future growth
- improving our Education Services for Overseas Students framework so it does not create unnecessary obstacles to growth for education providers, and
- streamlining the international student visa regime by simplifying processing.
Language also plays an important part in successful international engagement.
Knowing how to speak a foreign language encourages students to study overseas and it is an important skill for operating in a global economy.
The Australian Government has initiatives to encourage foreign language across all levels of education – early childhood, schools and higher education.
The uncapping of diploma places in our reforms will open up more opportunities for promoting language study at university.
It is an exciting time for higher education in Australia.
We are building on solid foundations to make a higher education system that we aim to be among the very best in the world.
It will be a system that gives students from all backgrounds the freedom of choosing a higher education institution and a course that is right for them.
It will be a system that is affordable for students and taxpayers alike.
It will be a system that recognises that students from disadvantaged backgrounds need extra support.
It will be a system where students and their families will have sound information about study options.
It will be a system underpinned by strong quality assurance.
It will be a system in which diversity thrives.
And it will be an internationally competitive system where our universities and other higher education institutions will have the freedom to provide world class teaching and research without the straightjacket of unnecessary regulatory burden and constraints on diversity.
Our reforms lay the foundation for achieving a truly world-leading higher education system.
It is, again, a great pleasure to be with such distinguished leaders of such fine universities from many countries.
Thank you for being here, and thank you for the friendship between our universities and our countries – the collaboration and, yes, the healthy competition.
You are very welcome here, and I hope that you will come back often.
(ENDS)