Razor Gang to Dawkins: a History of Victoria College, an Australian College of Advanced Education
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Razor Gang to Dawkins: A History of Victoria College, an Australian College of Advanced Education Vivienne Carol Roche Submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2003 Faculty of Education The University of Melbourne Abstract For ten years from 1982, Victoria College was a large multi-campus college of advanced education providing a diverse range of higher education programs to Australian and overseas students. This thesis outlines the history of Victoria College. It considers the circumstances that led to its creation through the forced amalgamation of four previously independent colleges of advanced education: the State Colleges of Victoria at Burwood, Rusden, and Toorak and the Prahran College of Advanced Education and examines the events which led to its merger with Deakin University in 1992. Australia’s binary system of higher education was intended to enhance the diversity of tertiary education as well as to increase the number of students able to gain a tertiary qualification. This thesis describes the role of Victoria College within the binary system and argues that the College did increase student and programmatic diversity within Australia’s higher education system. It describes how the four colleges that formed Victoria College responded to the forced amalgamation that resulted from the Commonwealth Government’s “Razor Gang” Report and the merger process that followed it. It traces the College’s early years and the development of its academic vision. These events support the academic literature on amalgamations that identify staff anxiety and opposition as well as the emotional costs as important features of involuntary mergers between two or more institutions. The College’s approach to the management of a multi-campus institution as well as the financial crisis of its early years are documented. The history of Victoria College also provides a useful case study of the dynamic relationships that exist between higher education institutions and Commonwealth and State governments in a federal system. The thesis contends that Victoria College was a successful college of advanced education (CAE). It suggests that it acted in accordance with the Government’s original intentions for the binary system by providing vocationally relevant higher education for students from relatively disadvantaged backgrounds. Victoria College also successfully achieved government policy imperatives that the institutions diversify their educational programs by reducing student load in teacher education courses and expanding into other discipline areas. It is argued that Victoria College resisted academic drift to a greater degree than other Australian CAEs as well as providing cost-effective higher education courses. It is concluded that the demise of the binary system and the introduction of the Unified National System under Minister Dawkins which led to the disappearance of Victoria College has created a less diverse higher education system. i This is to certify that i. the thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD, ii. due acknowledgment has been made in the text to all other material used, iii. the thesis is less than 100,000 words in length, exclusive of tables, maps, bibliographies and appendices. ii Acknowledgments Many people assisted me in this endeavour. The research draws heavily on the records of Victoria College and its predecessors, now under the control of the Deakin University Archivist. The courteous and extremely knowledgeable assistance of Antony Catrice, Senior Archivist at Deakin University, was particularly appreciated, as was the help of Catherine Herrick, the controller of the Education History Unit of the Victorian Department of Education and Training. I learned much from the interviews conducted as part of this research and I am very grateful to those people who shared their reflections with me. I particularly wish to thank Dr Norman Curry and Michael Selway, who not only contributed their interpretations of events, but also made available to me relevant documents in their possession. The special contributions of Mr Des Taylor and Dr Graham Allen, both now deceased, are also gratefully acknowledged. Des Taylor’s dry humour and colourful turn of phrase have enlivened this narrative. Hopefully, some indication of Dr Allen’s significant contribution to higher education in Victoria can also be gleaned from the narrative. Valuable assistance was also provided by Dr Robin Matthews, Associate Professor Don Gibb, Dr Ian Allen, Mr John Scutt, Dr Geoff Beeson, Dr Nigel Smart and Mr Bill Griffiths. I also wish to thank Professor Richard Teese, Outcomes Research Unit, University of Melbourne, for his supervision, encouragement and support throughout the research and preparation of this thesis. A special debt is owed to my son David Roche for his patient proof-reading and judicious editorial comment. Finally, to my husband Dr Colin Campbell, whose story this really is, my profound gratitude for his valuable support and insights, as well as his forbearance, during the long gestation of this work. iii Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................................. i Acknowledgments ..............................................................................................................................iii Table of Contents............................................................................................................................ iv List of Tables and Figures.................................................................................................................vii Chapter 1 Introduction......................................................................................................................... 1 Educational expansion and the Martin Report ............................................................................... 2 Commonwealth funding of teacher education................................................................................ 4 Methodology.................................................................................................................................... 7 Organisation of the thesis................................................................................................................ 8 Chapter 2 Literature Review ............................................................................................................. 10 Diversity in higher education........................................................................................................ 10 Academic drift and stratification in higher education.................................................................. 14 Mergers in higher education.......................................................................................................... 16 The multi-campus institution ........................................................................................................ 19 Chapter 3 Historical Overview.......................................................................................................... 21 The Binary System in Australia.................................................................................................... 21 Higher education in Victoria in the post-war period.................................................................... 25 Technical Institutes become Colleges of Advanced Education................................................... 26 Differentiating Victoria’s colleges of advanced education from universities............................. 29 Teachers’ Colleges gain CAE status............................................................................................. 30 Two coordinating authorities in Victoria...................................................................................... 32 Victorian Post-Secondary Education Commission established ................................................... 34 Chapter 4 Creating Victoria College – the economic and fiscal context........................................ 37 Supply and demand issues in teacher education........................................................................... 38 Economic downturn and the education debate............................................................................. 39 Reductions in teacher education intakes: the Commonwealth versus Victoria........................... 41 Proposals for structural change..................................................................................................... 44 Victoria’s plan for consolidating colleges .................................................................................... 47 Implications of events of 1977-1981 for higher education sector ............................................... 50 The Constituent Colleges .............................................................................................................. 51 Chapter 5 The Amalgamating Institutions and the Planning Process.............................................. 54 Governance of higher education ................................................................................................... 54 The Review of Commonwealth Functions ................................................................................... 56 The events of May 1981...............................................................................................................