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Case for a University in the Northern Territory

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Case for a University in the Northern Territory CASE FOR A UNIVERSITY J.H. EEDlE The Case For that in the period since 1976 the Northern Territory Planning Vice-Ct1ancellor The case forthe establishment of a university in the has been the fastest growing area in Australia: IN THE NORTHERN Northern Territory University Northern Territory must be evaluated in the context Planning Authority of the older Australian universities of Sydney, Mel­ State/ 1971 1976 % 1981 % TERRITORY bourne, Adelaide, Tasmania, Western Australia and Territory Popn. Popn. Increase Popn. Increase Queensland, rather than the new group of post­ NSW 4725.5 4595.6 5.0 5127."7 3.3 Second World War institutions. The University of VIC 3601.4 3810.4 5.8 38321 0.6 the nature and purpose of universities, placing the Northern Territory would rightfully be regarded OLD 1851.5 2092.4 13.0 22945 9.7 introduction SA 1200.1 1274.1 6.2 1284.8 0.8 The student who seeks to pursue post-school edu­ emphasis on research and scholarship in all fields as a "first phase" university, providing an initial insti­ WA 1053.8 1178.3 11.8 1273.4 8.1 cation in Australia is presented with a three-fold and on academic freedom for the professoriate. tution in an area hitherto unserved, not "second TAS 3981 4123 3.6 419.0 1.6 choice: phase", like the second and third universities in NT 86.8 100.3 15.6 123.3 22.9 In the last hundred years, universities have had to capital cities, nor "third phase", like those regional A.C.T 150.1 205.7 37.0 221.6 7.7 @ technical and further education; or respond to the increasing technological needs of institutions located outside capital cities but within TOTAL: 13067.3 14033.1 7.4 14574.5 3.9 @I advanced education; or society and to the close consideration of manpower states already having at least one university. The • university education. needs and the part which they - the universities­ University of the Northern Territory will fill a In advancing the cause of the university, the North­ can and should play in meeting those needs. With the exception of the Northern Territory, the vacuum, not supplement an existing provision. ern Territory Government has been responding to separate political entities of Australia are able to Since 1945, two phenomena have emerged in the the rising level of expectation on the part of Territori­ It could be argued that the accidents of history have ans. Increasingly, people who identify themselves offer their residents access to all three possibilities. further development of universities internationally: denied the Territory that provision which it could The Northern Territory alone has no university. with the Northern Territory and see their futures • an increasing demand for university education have assumed to be its right by equity and natural here demand the services which are available to all In March 1980, the Northern Territory Government with a corresponding increase in the number of justice. A small population and an education system other Australians. Prominent among those services announced its intention to establish the first univer­ universities; in 1945 Australia had six universities - operated by South Australia meant that no official is a State university. The Northern Territory has no sity in the Northern Territory. In doing so, the one in each of the state capitals - and two univer­ consideration was given to tertiary education provi­ such institution nor is there one situated closer than Government was not motivated by a wish to estab­ sity colleges (Armidale and Canberra); today there sion within the Territory until the late 1960s. Local 2000 km by air from Darwin or 1300 km by air from lish a monument to progress achieved, butratherby are nineteen; and pressure for a university emerged even before Alice Springs. The Universities of Denpassar and the desire to provide the Territory with an agent South Australia ceded responsibility for education Singapore -- 1000 km and 2000 km by air, respec­ which is essential to its continuing development • an increasing criticism and demand for greater in the Northern Territory. A strong local advocacy tively, from Darwin -- are as close in journey time to and, consequently, to the overall development of responsiveness and accountability. built up precisely at the time that university expan­ Darwin as any of the universities in Australia, all of sion nationally first felt the constraints of economic Australia. !t was with regard to the second of these - the which are located in that half of the country south of deceleration. The request was countered by a an arc from Townsville to Perth. North of that arc lies What is a University? increasing criticism - that in November 1979, the requirement of the Commonwealth Department of Senate of the University of Alberta having become a vast area with special needs and interests and a The case for the university depends upon the Education, then responsible for education in the growing population, an area where there is no aware of the answer to the question: What is a university? Territory, that the Darwin Community College university. should be seen to prove itself first, even though the The concept of university has evolved from the time serious questionings and concerns on the college was not providing (nor was it designed to • The special needs and opportunities for research of Socrates to the present day. Early developments part of certain members of the University provide) the leadership and enterprise characteris­ which have influenced the modern university community, faculty, students. and administra­ In its final report, the Commission established by tion alike, of certain members of the govern­ tic of a university. The local pressure for a university include: the concern of the ancient Greeks with ment, and of certain members of the public at was gathering intenSity again in 1974 when the des­ the University of Alberta states: systematic mental training; the Roman collegia or large. regarding not only the functions but truction of Darwin deferred this proposal for five It is clear that what distinguishes a university guilds which promoted business and craft and also the identification of the very nature and years. When the concept was revived by the NT from any other institute of post secondary which fostered the concept of group support and purpose or purposes of universities in general Treasurer at the Fourth North Australia Develop­ education is its commitment to research. loyalty; the long lasting influence of the Christian as well as of the University of Alberta in Church from which universities gained many ideas particular. ment Seminar in Broome in 1979 it was well received by representatives of Australia's three The encouragement and support of research is cen­ about structure and ritual practices as well as a northern States. tral to the life and quality of any university, and to its concept of institutional autonomy; the emphasis at resolved to estab!ish a Commission to inquire into reputation in the community. High quality staff can­ universities in medieval times on law, medicine and A review of the arguments developed in 1972 and not be attracted without the opportunity to under­ theology, the beginnings of endowments and of the nature, purpose or purposes, and function of a University in general and of the University of Alberta 1974 in support of a Northern Territory university take research. Research students, too. provide the financial support from city and state; and the emer­ in particular. suggests that the prime motivation at that time was next generation of academic staff and it is vital that a gence of a strong Faculty of Arts at the University of that of ensuring that undergraduate teaching would sufficient number be trained with a special interest Oxford. This liberal arts form and tradition, in which The Commission's report was published in April be available 10caJly. While this was both understand­ In tropical Australia and the region. The nineteen Doctors of Theology taught the "seven liberal arts" 1982. The members of the Commission agreed that able and defensible it paid insufficient regard to the existing universities in Australia provide a research of grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, geometry, arith­ a university had four main functions: wider purposes and broader implications of a base for the regions in which they are located and it metic, astronomy, and music was predominant at university. is worth noting, all are also currently undertaking the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Paris. • the discovery of knowledge research In the Northern Territory (further details • the transmission of knowledge The major components in the case for a university Successive centuries saw many changes in aca­ ~re supplied in A Northern Territory Research Reg­ • the preservation of knowledge in the Northern Territory are: Ister produced by the NT University Planning demic powers and in various styles of governance • service to society. among European universities. During the 1800s the • The growth rate of the population with a corres­ Authority). The Northern Territory has no such industrial revolution, urbanization, and seculariza­ In proposing the first university in the Northern ponding increase in the level of needs and expecta­ demonstrable base. (The North Australia Research tion brought about the formation of new attitudes Territory, the Government of the Territory is seeking tions in the community Unit of the Australian National University has priori­ and behaviours, one of which was a growing inter­ to establish an institution which will, ultimately, pro­ ties in conforming with the ANU Act and is not an est in rational and scientific explanation. German vide all four functions in the only po!itically distinct The following table - based on information supp­ agency of the Northern Territory in which it is universities by 1800 had developed new ideas about area in Australia which now has no such institution.
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