Developing a New Vision for Post-Secondary Education: Ideas for Government
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— Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education Developing a New Vision for Post-Secondary Education: Ideas for Government Policy discussions following the 2019 Federal Election Edited by William Locke & Sarah French Table of Contents Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... 2 Contributors ..................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction William Locke ..................................................................................................... 4 Part 1: The Purpose of Higher Education and How its Funding can be Sustainable ............. 5 The Higher Purpose of University: Beyond the Economic Margaret Gardner ......................... 5 The Multiple and Diverse Purposes of Australian Higher Education Andrew Norton .............. 8 The Future of Higher Education: An Economist’s Perspective Beth Webster ........................ 11 The Wider Benefits of Post-Secondary Education William Locke ........................................... 15 Part 2: Access to What? .................................................................................................. 17 Historical Perspectives on Access to Australian Higher Education Gwilym Croucher ............ 17 Universal Access to Beneficial Lifelong Learning Nadine Zacharias ....................................... 20 Widening Participation in Post-Secondary Education Kerri-Lee Krause ................................. 23 Regulation, Funding and Online Solutions for Lifelong Learning Duncan Bentley ................. 26 Part 3: Has Internationalisation Gone Too Far? ............................................................... 28 The Importance of Internationalisation to Australian Universities Helen Bartlett ................ 28 The International Student Experience and the Role of Higher Education Jonas Larsen ........ 30 The Successes and Challenges of Internationalisation and the Role of TEQSA Anthony McClaran ......................................................................................................................... 32 The International Engagement of Australian Higher Education Christopher Ziguras ............ 35 Developing a New Vision for Post-Secondary Education: Ideas for Government Page 1 of 37 Acknowledgements Thank you to Professor Sophie Arkoudis, Associate Professor Chi Baik, Dr Gwilym Croucher, Dr Julie Blasioli and Cathleen Benevento who assisted with the planning and organisation of the policy discussion events and to Maxine McKew for facilitating two of the three events. We are grateful to each of the contributors for offering their time, expertise and insights on developing a new vision for post-secondary education. Recordings of the policy discussions are available here: https://melbourne-cshe.unimelb.edu.au/events/public-policy/past Developing a New Vision for Post-Secondary Education: Ideas for Government Page 2 of 37 Contributors Professor Margaret Gardner is President and Vice-Chancellor of Monash University. She has held various leadership positions at Australian universities, including at RMIT, the University of Queensland and Griffith University. Professor Gardner was appointed an AC in 2020 for her eminent service to tertiary education through leadership and innovation in teaching and learning, research and financial sustainability. Andrew Norton is a Professor in the practice of higher education policy at the Australian National University. He directed the higher education program at the Grattan Institute until September 2019. He has also worked as a ministerial adviser on higher education and as a university policy adviser. Professor Beth Webster is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research Policy and Impact) at Swinburne University of Technology. She is responsible for providing advice and leadership on policies relating to the economic and social impact of research; public industry and innovation policies. Beth’s expertise is in the study of the economics of how knowledge is created and diffused through the economy. Professor William Locke is the Director of the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education. He was previously Reader in Higher Education Studies at the UCL Institute of Education, University College London, where he was Director of the Centre for Higher Education Studies (CHES) and Deputy Director of the Centre for Global Higher Education (CGHE). Professor Locke has published on topics such as higher education policy, the management and governance of institutions and the changing academic profession. Dr Gwilym Croucher is a Senior Lecturer in the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education (CSHE). He coordinates and teaches into the Master of Tertiary Education Management. Gwilym has authored and edited research volumes on higher education, as well as refereed journal articles on higher education policy and other areas of public policy. Associate Professor Nadine Zacharias is Director, Student Engagement at Swinburne University of Technology. Her research expertise and interests relate to equity policy and program management as well as inclusive teaching and learning in higher education. As an inaugural Equity Fellow sponsored by the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE) in 2016, Nadine undertook the first national study of institutional practice in student equity across the Australian higher education sector which inspired strategic change in numerous universities. Professor Duncan Bentley is Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic) at Swinburne University of Technology. He is leading Learning Transformation both domestically and internationally with industry partners to position Swinburne’s graduates to take advantage of social and economic disruption. He has held senior executive positions in private, public, dual-sector and on-line universities across Australia. Jonas Larsen is a third-year international student, undertaking an economics degree in the Faculty of Business and Economics at the University of Melbourne. Jonas served as President of the International Student Union at the University of Melbourne Student Union (UMSU) for the term 2018/2019. He now remains engaged with various initiatives and discussions related to international education, giving advice and advocating for student welfare. Anthony McClaran is CEO of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA). Before joining TEQSA in 2015, Anthony was Chief Executive of the UK’s Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) from 2009-15 and Chief Executive of the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service (UCAS) from 2003-06. Anthony has served as a member of the boards of the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA) and the International Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE). Professor Christopher Ziguras is Professor in the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies at RMIT University. His research explores varied aspects of the globalisation of education, particularly the ways in which regulatory agencies, markets, education providers and other actors shape cross-border provision of higher education. Chris teaches in RMIT’s international development and public policy programs and plays a leading role in coordinating RMIT’s international partnerships in the social sciences. Developing a New Vision for Post-Secondary Education: Ideas for Government Page 3 of 37 Introduction This collection emerged from a series of three public policy discussions organised by the Melbourne Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Melbourne from June to August in 2019. The initial idea for the series was conceived prior to the 2019 Federal Election and motivated by the opportunity to engage in a full and frank discussion about higher education policy in the broader context of post- secondary education during the first 100 days of what we expected would be a new government. We identified a clear need for such discussions, which were notably lacking during the election campaign. It was envisaged that our discussions would address a new Labor government, with their potentially ambitious plans promising a fairly comprehensive review of post-secondary education, and that we would therefore offer an important contribution to the key issues while policy was being formed. Instead, by the time our series of events commenced in June 2019, the Coalition Government had been re- elected, presenting a different kind of opportunity for our expert panellists, and perhaps an even more urgent need to offer some new thinking to influence the direction of policy. With tax cuts being the main priority for the re-elected Coalition Government and so many other pressing issues, higher education was, and remains, in danger of being forgotten. The lack of genuine and transparent consultation with the sector before the election on evidence-based policy options had not been particularly encouraging. Yet, there are some major challenges for higher education - and post-secondary education as a whole – in Australia, as the country moves into a new phase as an expanding knowledge-based society and economy. The aim of the policy discussions – and the following written contributions based directly on the panellists’ inputs – is to generate new ideas drawing on the latest evidence, challenge conventional thinking and offer practical steps that ministers could take in the next few years towards a longer term, comprehensive vision for