ii
11 II I (as we have defined it) and how it will cope with the in which students can be trained so that they can in turn Peter C Byers, II understand and bUild on existing knowledge. That cor THE RATIONALISATION 1! most severe disadvantages meanwhile, That will in Assistant to the Vice·Chancellor; and volve each in a serious examination of the kinds of pus of information and the skills which are necessary to OF HIGHER EDUCATION II issues we have considered in this paper. It will cer understand, sustain, and expand it, constitute the basis David E of adiscipline. Thebasis will change, sometimesslowly, Vice-Chancellor: tainly be necessary, we believe, for each small IN TASMANIA II sometimes rapidly. Nevertheless, at any given moment University 01 Tasmania I university to formulate publicly supportable reaSons It is possible to approach a particular aspect of man's ! which it would advance for its continued support by knowledge about himself and his world from within the government and the public, boundaries of a particular discipline. The organisation of !n February 1 980 the State Government accepted year 1 2 schooling are linked factors, the lowest par knowledge in disciplines is useful because our minds an offer from the University of Tasmania to assume Finally, we do not think that any of us should shrink cannot encompass the complete range of man's ticipation rates being found in the areas outside from examining even those actions which could lead understanding; we need to fix, around particular areas responsibility for courses given by the College of Ad Hobart. vanced Education in Southern Tasmania. The Univer to the disappearance of the university as a separate of knowledge, boundaries within which we can conduct In the metropolitan centres of the larger states, sity stated that if it were given such an opportunity, it institution (that is, either federation or integration). research, teaching and learning. universities and colleges can each limit their offerings There is, of course, a danger that these boundaries are would become a broadly-based dual-purpose institu There are circumstances when such transformations but collectively provide a very wide range of oppor assumed to be more permanent, part of "the nature of tion. The University recognised the need for flexibility could readily be accepted as best for staff, students tunities in the one city. Many universities have things", than they really are, and that they therefore im in a small state and stated: and the development of higher education itself; if, for chosen a limited role, emphasising research and example, competitive pressures decrease the pose restrictions on desirable intellectual develop ment. Butitdoesnotseem to us thatthesedangershave The University indeed welcomes the oppor scholarship, without being seen by the community as numbers of suitably qualified students so greatly that prevented the growth of the new disciplines from older tunity to evolve into a comprehensive regional failing in their duty. Over the last three decades there neither adequate resources nor achievement of the ones (for example, bio-chemistry) or of multi University new to Australia which could well be has been a substantial change in the distribution of critical mass for the student body could be assured; disciplinary activities (for example, in "schools of in a model for small universities in other parts of students between courses at various levels. the Commonwealth. Under this scheme the or if a university and a college, competing for the quiry", as in Griffith University). Indeed, an adequate Postgraduate teaching and research have expanded same students, found that their educational develop and continuing grasp of the content of "disciplines" is University would maintain its traditional essential for strong and effective multi-disciplinary and scholarly activities but a/so offer a broad range dramatically and at the same time there has been a ment was hampered by inadequate funding and that decline in sub-graduate teaching. Sub-graduate the deficiency could be overcome if they pooled their inter-disciplinary work! of courses and services more usually offered by colleges of advanced education in other courses accounted for 27% of all students in 1954 separate resources: then it would be eminently sen 2. Australian Universities Commission. Report on the Pro posal of the Government of Victoria for a Fourth Univer states. and only 10.4% in 1963. Subsequently many of sible for the institutions themselves to generate pro sity in Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo. Canberra To understand the problems behind the rationalisa these courses were phased out or up-graded to full posals for integration or federation. We claim after all, AGPS 1973. tion of higher education it is necessary to realise that degree courses in the late 1960s following the Mar to be expert in preparing our students for imaginative 3 Education, Training and Employment: Report of the tin Committee Report. and effective activity in greatly changing economic, Committee of Inquiry into Education and Training (Pro Tasmania is not at all !ike other states. The population social, industrial and political circumstances. It would fessor B. R. Williams, Chairman). Canberra, A.G.P.S. and interests of the community can be clearly iden It is perhaps ironic that the large institutions which can be strange indeed if, as a system, or as units in that 1979. tified with three major regions: the South, the North relatively easily be "comprehensive" now have no system, we were found lacking in the ability to adapt 4. Tertiary Education in Australia. Report of the Committee and the North West. The Tasmanian system of need to be, while the smaller ones in more remote on the Future of Tertiary Education in Australia to the our institutions to changes occurring here and now! parliamentary representation, based on five seven communities, are urged to be "comprehensive" but Australian Universities Commission, (Sir Leslie Martin, member electorates, contributes to this regional pat· Chairman). Melbourne, Government Printer, 1964 have to wrestle with problems of scale which inhibit NOTES AND REFERENCES. tern of interest as does the division and ownership of such diversity. In the Tasmanian experiment the 1. The definition of a "discipline" is itself a matter of some 5. Sale, Kirkpatrick Human Scale Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, New York, 1980 the media. The total population is only a little over University will be required to broaden its base and to dispute. In our view, at anyone time it is possible to 400,000. Of these about 160.000 live in greater define a set of related pieces of information and con provide some courses which in other areas may be cepts, which have been accumulated by using par Hobart, 1 00,000 in Launceston and the rest in towns found in CAEs. ticular kinds of inteUectual and practical techniques; and of less than 20,000 people or in the country. Like their mainland counterparts, vocal sectional History groups in Tasmania seek a wide range of educational To understand the latest moves to rationalise higher opportunities and would like them to be at their education it is necessary to review the history of the doorsteps. However, there are limited resources Tasmanian College of Advanced Education (TCAE). available and it is not possible forevery tertiary sector Perhaps because the University was not providing to be represented in each region in Tasmania, Thus the breadth of service needed by the community, a some tension and conflict is almost inevitable but is decision was taken in the late sixties to set upaCAE in compounded by an extraordinary jealousy between Tasmania. The potential student population was quite the North and the South, specifically between small so that the arguments for a college depended Launceston and Hobart. An equally important factor on breadth of opportunity rather than on numbers or is a sense of deprivation, freely expressed by the associated costs of the institutions involved. It representatives of the three major towns in the North might have been expected that, since more than half West. Tasmania's population lives outside Hobart, the Col lege would have been established in Launceston, the The sense of deprivation is well founded in fact. second city. However, the argument that no capital Tasmania's participation rates of 7.1 % forthe Univer city could be without a CAE prevailed and in 1 968 the sity and 6.3% for the College sector do not compare TCAEopened its doors on as!teatMt Nelsonwhich is well with the national averages of 9.5% and 10.0% almost contiguous with the University grounds. respectively. They are consistent with the low reten Subsequently the College tooksteps to develop a se tion rate to the final year of schooling - 25.4% com cond campus at Newnham in Launceston. pared with a national average of 35.3%. Decen The new College incorporated a previously existing tralisation of the population and low retention rates to School of Art, a Conservatorium of Music, and a
10 11 Teachers College. It proceeded with new (Ii) To achieve these objectives, the existing pro in the South of the State. Not only was it expected that New courses and academic structure developments in Libmrianship, Medical Technology grams of the Mt Nelson campus of the TCAE the University would lose teacher education but The courses which the University has agreed to take and Applied Sciences, Pharmacy, Social Work, and should be transferred to the University or to a there were also fears that this loss would quickly imp over include Associate Diploma (UG3), Diploma fully autonomous college of advanced educa· inge on enrolments in the Arts and Science faculties. IUG2}, Bachelor Degree and Post-graduate Diploma Environmental Design. jn addition, it developed a tion at Newnham (or as necessary, to the number of other courses, notabJy in Engineering, Ac" Hobart Technical College). and the site and courses in Art and Music, a Post-graduate Diplomain counting, Administration, Commercial Law and some buildings of the TCAE at Mt Nelson transferred In the event the decision was delayed. In December Librarianship, and a B.Ed. and course-work M.Ed. in Arts and Science subjects, which overlapped those to the University. the Minister for Education requested the University Education. The University will also offer new masters offered by the University. This resulted in some ten (iii) The existing legislation relating to the Tasma and the TCAE to make submissions outlining their degrees in Fine Arts and Music. As part of the ra sion between the two institutions. nian Council of Advanced Education and the proposals for teacher education programmes in tionalisation proposal the University agreed to take TCAE should be replaced by new legislation Hobart and gave the two institutions six weeks to over and maintain the integrated B.Ed. previously In 1 975 a Committee on Post-Secondary Education, establishing a fully autonomous college of ad complete these submissions. taught by the College and to continue the vital exten vanced education at Newnham. with Professor P. H. Karme! as Chairman, was ap sion role of the Centre forthe Continuing Education of pOinted jointly by the Australian and Tasmanian The recommendations of the Karmel Committee A remarkable consensus of opinion developed in the Teachers. Ministers for Education to report on the promotion, were not all implemented. Although in generaJ they University. Various concepts of the role to be played It has been necessary to develop new academic ad development and co-ordination of post-secondary were similar to one of the options contained in a sub by a regiona! university had been discussed in ministrative arrangements to deal with the transferr education in the State, having regard to its future mission made to the Committee by the University, University circles over the previous four years. ing sections. Librarianship becomes a department in needs. Following an extensive investigation, its sections of the staff objected so strongly that there These were developed for the University's submis the Faculty of Arts. The University's Faculty of recommendations proposed a major restructuring of was insufficient community and University support to sion which was written in four weeks over Christmas. Education is replaced by a Centre for Education with tertiary education in Tasmania. carry out mostofthe recommendations. College staff It was approved, with three votes against it, at a three departments: Teacher Education, Educational also resisted the recommendations vigorously .In the general meeting of all staff in mid-January. The Pro Studies and Special Education. The first is headed by The Karmel Committee's recommendations were event, the College headquarters moved to fessorial Board and the University Council approved a new professor, the second by the present Pro made in the context of demand forecasts which Launceston where courses in Teacher Education, it nem con in time for it to be handed to the Ministeron fessor of Education and the third by a Reader in predicted that both the University and the TCAE Arts, Engineering, Commerce and Art were expand 30 January 1980. The main thrust of the University's Special Education. The Centre for Education has all would continue to grow slowly and would have dif ed and developed. The TCAE still maintained the offer was: the powers and functions of a faculty. ficulty in attracting substantially increased campus at Mt Nelson in Hobart where it continued to enrolments. The Committee said: teach the majority of its students in courses in (i) It would take over all teacher education in Hobart; The Schools of Art and Music have the formal title of Teacher Education, Art, Music, Librarianship, Social Iii) It would take over the College Schools of Art, The Tasmanian School of Artand The Tasmanian Con ... The projected total tertiary enrolment of Work, Environmental Design and Legal Practice. Music and Librarianship; servatorium of Music. Each operates as a faculty. 6,950 by 1991 could, by general Australian Only a limited rationalisation had been achieved. (iil) 1f required it would take over Environmental The two schools will be associated in a new educa standards, be accommodated in a medium Design and Legal Practice; tional structure to be known as The Centre for the sized university (the average size of establish (iv) The University would, in the future, operate as a Arts. This aims to bring together the specific re ed Australian universities in 1975, excluding In 1978, further committees (Kearney and TEND1) recommended a more complete rationalisation but much broader based institution, providing quirements of the arts and the community. The Cen the new Griffith University and Murdoch tre will provide courses in Art and Music at alileve!s University, was over 9,000) or by a smaller nothing happened until the State Minister for Educa facilities for all higher education in Hobart either university and a single col/ege of advanced tion brought the two institutions together for further on its own initiative or under contract from the from the post-compulsory education stage to the education. discussions. At about the same time it was becoming College; post-graduate education stage. It will encourage apparent that there was asignificant over-production Iv) The College should develop in the North with the practising artists, deSigners, craftspeople and The Committee foresaw that: of teachers both in Tasmania and in the other states. University assisting as necessary. teachers of the arts to provide and participate in conti Discussions were delayed pending the arrival of the nuini] education. It will facilitate links between the ... the estimates of future tertiary growth thus new Principal of the College. When they were held The merger decision educational establishment and the cornmunity and it raise the question whether the State should late in 1978 they were a disaster. Relationships bet On 20 February 1980 the Minister for Education an will help develop increased vocational opportunities continue to support three main centres of ter ween the two institutions were badly damaged and, in nounced that the Government had accepted the in the arts and crafts. tiary education, two of which are located in University's offer and that the College in the South Hobart side by side. 1 979, the few existing co-operative arrangements in the South were repudiated. would be closed. There can be little doubt that the Staff transfers Subsequent events show that the basic recommen University's proposal to become a more comprehen The question of staff transfer is an essential issue in all dations of the Committee were made in the context of In September 1979, the Tertiary Education Commis sive institution was the significant factor in deciding rationalisation exercises. The experience at Deakin forecasts of student numbers which were optimistic. sion of Tasmania (TECT) advised the Minister for the outcome. The TECT, commenting upon the University had not been particularly happy and the Projected total student numbers for 1 981 were Education that teacher training numbers should be University's plan said: University was concerned that an effective way to 6,800 students but it is now known that participation reduced by 26% for the State as a whole and by 40% make transfers and provide security for staff should rates are not growing as fast as expected and a more in Hobart. It was evident that either the College Divi The Commission has been impressed by the be found. In this it was aided by asubmission made by realistic estimate would be 6,200 students. sion of Teacher Education in the South or the Univer proposal by the University that it should the University of Tasmania Staff Association to TECT. sity Faculty of Education should close. Discussions become a more broadly-based institution. While rejecting absolutely proposals that all College The reappraisal by the University offers ex staff members be taken into the University, the sub The Karmel recommendation was for a total ra took place and by November 1979 the Tertiary citing possibilities for the future .. tionalisation: Education Commission of Tasmania was known to be mission did accept that there should be some varia tion in normal appointment procedures. The Staff drafting a report on the future of teacher education. The University was now to acquire by transfer the Association requested that a criterion of "sym 1 (a) (i) A basic restructuring of university and advanc- Despite the previous recommendations of the D"lvision of Teacher Education and the Schools of Art, pathetic consideration" be used and applied on the ed education in Tasmania should be under Karmel, TEND and Kearney Committee Reports that Music and Librarianship. After further discussion it basis that, if an applicant was regarded by an inter taken in order to rationalise the programs of the the rationalisation should maintain or expand the was agreed that Environmental Design should be viewing committee as being of a quality that would University of Tasmania and the Mt Nelson cam University, there was in Tasmania in November transferred to Launceston with a branch in Hobart, pus of the Tasmanian College of Advanced normally find him or her a place in a "short list" for final 1979, a firm belief that the University had lostthe last and that Legal Practice would continue to be provid Education (TCAE) and to provide a better round of the rationalisation and teacher education consideration, then the applicant would be judged to balance of effort in tertiary education between ed in Hobart by the College. The date for these the North and South of the State. would be maintained in a restructured College facility changes was set for 1 January 1 981 .
12 13 have satisfied the requirements for appointment. A (iv) All entitlements to long service leave, an provided a grant to convert the building for use as The levels hardly exisl and at the middle and higher similar procedure had been used when Ph?rma?y nualleave. and where appropriate sick leave, Centre for Teacher Education. All the Education staff, levels they are shared between TAFE institu and Surveying were transferred to the Umversity should be honoured by the University. In con old and new, will be located in thisbuHding on the main tions. colleges of advanced education and sidering applications for external studies universities. (Paragraph 159). following the Karmel Report. leave, note should be taken of service in the University campus from the end of first term 1981 . Following discussions within its staff, the Pro College, The School of Librarianship will move at about the ,A, new pattern of education from Year 1 0 schooling fessorial Board and Council, the University offered to same time to the University campus leaving only the onwards is being introduced in Tasmania. It combines These principles were in accordance witrl those matriculation, technical and adult education in com bring the courses in Music, Art and ~ibrarianship into discussed between the parties at the Cartland Com Tasmanian School of Art and the Tasmanian Conser the University structure and to apPolntal! members of vatorium of Music at Mt Nelson. This arrangement wlll munity colleges. These form part of the Further mittee. Education system and their courses are defined to be the present staff of those units wishing to transfer, It Superannuation caused some problems. Some of continue for several years. Eventually both Schools was not possible to employ all the teaching staff from and associated library and student facilities will move at tertiary level. Further Education arrangements in the TCAE staff belonged to one or other of two State the tertiary sector will be slightly different in each of the Division of Teacher Education since the number superannuation schemes; some belonged to a to The Centre for the Arts on the Hobart waterfront. of students was decreasing. However, the Universi The University will then vacate the Mt Nelson campus the three main regions of the State. The development scheme operated by the College. The latter is not of the community colleges will require extensive ty offered to advertise seventee~ staff pos!s,' i.nitially compatible with the University's present superan which is to be used by the State Department of by closed advertisement within the DIViSion of Education as a Community College (matriculation cross crediting arrangements with other tertiary in nuation scheme which is in any event in financial dif stitutions both for entry standards and for actual Teacher Education at the Mt Nelson campus of the ficulty. The State Government agreed to pass legisl~ plus some elements of Further Education). CAE. Additionally, the University agreed that, during course performance. tion permitting those in the State schemes to remain The Government has accepted the University's offer the transition period whenever It was possible, It members after transferring to the University. The to plan the redevelopment of sections of an old and in would fill any temporary additional posts in the Facul The future university legislation gives the State liability for the cost of past teresting jam factory located on the waterfront in The idea of a comprehensive institution is not new. ty of Education by appointment o.r secon~'!lent of service prior to 1 January 1 981 , while the University Hobart at Sullivans Cove. The intention is for the College staff. The University provided positions for The Williams Committee Report explores the has the responsibility thereafter. University to take over the site and, as part of an urban library and administrative staff and part Of. ~ group possibility of creating dual-purpose institutions in The University set up a new superannuation scheme renewal programme, to develop it partly as an various regions. The OECD Conference on Higher dealing with audio-visual materials. In, addltlo~, the for those transferring from the college's scheme. academic home for its own Schools and partly as a University undertook, whenever possible, to fill va Education (Paris 1973) identified the "comprehen This provides benefits similar to those of the propos place available to other educational institutions and to cant general staff positions by appointment from the sive institution" as one of the four broad models for ed Superannuation Scheme for Australian Univer the public. It is envisaged that The Centre for the Arts Mt Nelson staff. The maintenance and grounds staff the development of structural relationships in post sities. Past service in the College is recognised for will also be the home for the TCAE Hobart branch of secondary education. Developments in this direction were given employment with the State Education those bringing transfer benefits from the College the School of Environmental DeSign, and some TAFE Department. are well established in North America and have scheme. The service recognition is such as to give a activities in Art. It may house an FM radio station at received increasing attention in Britain and Western In those cases where selection was necessary, basic pension right within the University equal to that present situated at Mt Nelson. It is planned to include Europe. New institutions have been built where the some difficulties arose. Pressure was brought to in the College at the date of entry to the University some artists' studios for craftspeople in residence. special characteristics of the traditional university - bear on the University through the press and Cabinet scheme. Since the University scheme provides a ful There wi!! also be a restaurant which will be available such as the maintenance of standards of excellence Ministers to make more appointments than were ly indexed pension while the TCAEscheme does no.t, both for students and the public. Thedesign team has and the initiation of research - are combined with a possible and there was some bit.terness. Th~ the new staff receive a significant increase In been appointed and it is expected that this exciting wider range of activities and more open access. Minister for Education set up a committee under Sir benefits. Some staff have moved to be declared project will be completed with State funds within George Cartland to advise h'lm on ~cc.omm?dation redundant on leaving the College so that they can ob three to four years. In constructing 'ItS brief for a comprehensive institu needs and the progress of rationahsatlon With par tain cash from the College scheme. In this case, no tion the University said: ticular emphasis on redundancy. In the event most past service recognition can be given. Government policy for postwsecondary education A university has a fundamental responsibility staff rendered surplus by the rationalisation were of The move towards a more comprehensive University for the preservation and extension of fered positions with the TCAE in Lau~:eston '. two or Transfer of equipment and money in Southern Tasmaniashould be viewed in the context knowledge, for education and training, and for three year contract teaching POSitions With the Agreement was reached on the transfer of equip of government policy and the structural changes pro the critical evaluation of the SOCiety in which it University, or positions with the State Department of ment books and other library materials without too posed in post-secondary education. is set ... A university must maintain its place Education. In all, the University is employing about much' difficulty. Agreement on the transfer of funds within the international community of scholarly Government policy aims for a balanced development institutions. but it also has responsibilities to 1 20 new staff from the College out of a total of 1 60 in for 1981 was less easily achieved. Since the Univer of educational provision throughout the State and it the community which creates and sustains it. A all staff categories. sity has taken over most of the activities at Mt Nelson, university fails if it lives to itself: it must forge it argued in March 1 980 that it would be easiest if the assumes a delineation of major responsibilities within The university adopted the following principles in of links with local business, industry and labour, entire Mt Nelson budget, less the costs of staff each region. The University of Tasmania has the ma fering appointments: jor responsibility for tertiary education in the South, interpret knowledge to the benefit of the local transferring to Launceston, were passed to the community and bring its resources to bear on the College of Advanced Education is to assume tl1at (I) The salary of everyone transferring should University. Despite the College's original offer to the problems of the region and the nation. A be the same in real terms in 1981 as it would relinquish control of Mt Nelson campus and courses responsibility in the North and Further Education has measure of a university's stature is the con have been in the Col/ege; on a "walk in -walkout" basis from 1 January 1981 , the major responsibility in the North West. In each tribution it makes to public progress in the com (ii) In as many cases as possible appointment this was not acceptable to the College. Very detailed region the main institution is to be supported by the munity it serves .. should be made at a University grade other bodies. equivalent to the relevant College grade: and protracted negotiations went on until the end of These beliefs remain the basis for the developments (iii) In the few cases where a lower University November 1980 when the same result was finally The 1977 review of Australian education policy by which are now taking place. achieved. The transfers of recurrent funds, equip the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and grade was offered (e.g. senior I~ctl.!reship The rationalisation decisions have resulted in im ment grants and minor works grants were approved Development (DECO) commented that. fof/owing a principal lectureship In the mediate changes within the University .It will be much College), the salary from 1982 should beheld by the Tertiary Education Commission and will be ef larger, nearly 4,000 wsu in 1981 instead of about constant in money terms until national wage fected by an amendment to the States Grants Act. There is a good case in Australia for the crea variations bring the appropriate University tion of a network of community colleges cater 3,000 in 1 980. It has increased breadth because of ing forthe further education needsofthe whole the addition of the Schools of Art, Librarianship and salary into line with the old College salary. Thus Accommodation arrangements no one should lose money as a result of the community from remedial work in literacy and Music. Starting in 1 981 it will offer CAE-type diploma As part of the arrangements, the University has clos transfer: numeracy up to degree level work. At present courses in Art and MUSic as well as degrees. These ed a Hall of Residence and the State Government has further education opportunities at the lower have been approved by the TEC and will be funded in the usual way through the Universities Council. 14 15 It is inherent in the rationalisation decisions that the The educational needs of the people of the North will certainly emerge as a different institution. While REFERENCES University may need to offer other CAE-type courses West are particularly important. They are being con there may be lessons to be learned from the Tasma 1. Ministerial Working Party on Tertiary Education in Tasmania. D, A. Kearney, Chairman. from time to time and this raises questions of sidered by a new Council for Community Education nian experience which can be applied in other small centres, it should be remembered that Tasmania is Tasmanian Education Next Decade (TEND) accreditation and funding, Normally universities on which oneof us (Peter Byers) serves. The Univer 2 Vestes, Volume 23, No.2, 1980. approve their own courses and this in principle can sity has indicated its willingness to co-operate as well unique, and the solution to a purely Tasmanian pro happen with diplomas as well as with degrees, It has as it can short of contemplating branch campuses. It blem may not necessarily be as useful in the major been argued (see, for example, Professor Sir Bruce seems likely that visiting staff from the TCAE and the metropolitan areas. WiHiams2) that the basic binary approach to higher University may provide a limited number of courses in education would be weakened if funding were deter the North West using Further Education facilities and mined in accordance with the usual Universities study centres located in community colleges. Council procedures. It may well be desirable for visiting staff from the At the opposite extreme, the "comprehensive" University to give some courses at the TCAE in university could have diploma courses accredited Launceston. For rationalisation to be a success, it is and funded as if it were a college of advanced educa vital that the College and the University should tion. This too has disadvantages. First, there would facilitate the transfer of students in both directions be multiple paymasters. Second, it is difficult, and between the two institutions. perhaps undesirable, to separate diploma and degree students in programmes which may well have Professor Sir Bruce Williams (Ioc. cit.) has criticised the first few years in common. Third, there may be an the use of the term "comprehensive" by the Universi implication that the university would have two dif ty of Tasmania, stating that it will not be any more com ferent categories of academic staff. This idea is unac prehensive than some larger universities have been ceptable to the staff of the University of Tasmania. in the past. This is certainly true. The point is that most small universities have been much more restricted in A possible compromise is for UG3 level diploma their offerings than the larger universities were UNIVERSITY AUTONOMY: J. E. Lane, courses to be provided by University staff under con before colleges of advanced education came into ex Center for Administrative Studies, A NEW ANALYSIS1 University of Umea, tract either from the CAE or from Further Education istence in large numbers in the sixties. The Tasmanian Umea, Sweden as appropriate, The award would then be given by the experiment requires both the University and the contracting body and funds would come through the TCAE to become broader and more flexible. This is a appropriate tertiary sector. Degree and UG2 or necessity for a small State and it should not be seen Introduction Though the concept of university autonomy occurs in postgraduate diplomas would be provided by the as being destructive of the binary system of univer Among scholars doing research on university most studies on the external relationships of systems University in the normal way. The ideal arrangement sities and colleges which has worked well organisation the concept of autonomy is used as the of higher education it still remains to be seen what has yet to be decided, elsewhere, theoretical tool by means of which the relationship "university autonomy" really means and what In Tasmania, to compound the problem, there is no The changes in the University are only just beginning between the university system or any system of measurement procedures would allow systematic separate Advanced Education Accrediting body, but it is already clear that there is a renewed interest higher education and the central authorities is comparative studies of university organisation in The Council of the TCAE accredits its own courses within the University in providing a broader and better understood. To these scholars the transition from various countries. There is something vague about and has not shown any great inclination to extend its service to the community. Reviewing the progress elitism to mass education has been accompanied by statements to the effect that the autonomy of the role. during 1980, it seems that innovation within the a reduction in traditional university autonomy or at university system in country C1has decreased or that least they assert that the trend has presented threats the system in country C2has more autonomy than the Unless there is an independent accrediting authority, University is more probable now than even a year ago. As an example, the older part of the University is to university autonomy. 2 However, general one in C1. Moreover, since there are practically no it will be very difficult to establish tertiary courses at statements about the evolution of university theories of university autonomy available there is as the appropriate level and at the same time facilitate introducing four new masters degrees (Humanities, Social Sciences, Financial Studies, Legal Studies in autonomy in the western democracies may fail to do yet little understanding of the great differences in their conduct on contract by the appropriate institu justice to the variety of systems within higher educa autonomy between various systems. While universi tion in each region. Separate accrediting bodies exist Welfare Law), and two new postgraduate diplomas (Welfare Law, Operations Research) in 1981 , tion. The development of the Swedish university ty autonomy has been a prominent feature of Anglo in all other States and with the movement of both the system does not confirm the notion of decreasing Saxon systems, continental university systems like University and Further Education sector into diploma At the same time, there is an insistence that, autonomy. On the contrary, the reform of 1977 will the German and the Swedish ones have witnessed courses there is a need in Tasmania to implement whatever is done, the standards must be those pro increase the autonomy of the Swedish universities. virtually no autonomy. How come? If autonomy is so similar policies. This would leave the Tasmanian per to a university. The University will not dilute its Among most scholars doing research on university valuable, what substitutes are there for systems with Council of Advanced Education with only those standards in becoming more comprehensive. Rather autonomy there is a general value commitment to the little autonomy? powers appropriate to a council of a college of ad it intends to apply standards of excellence to wider idea! of the autonomous university, although some of vanced education. areas of higher education. Perhaps as a result of this these scholars are pessimistic as to the realism of I intend to put forward a tentative analysis of the con Before the rationalisation decision there was a grow insistence on standards and because of the awaken making a stubborn stand against all encroachments cept of university autonomy and I will outline some ing awareness within the University that it had to be ing in the University, there has been a dramatic in on autonomy. However, none of these scholars have steps towards a theory of university autonomy. My more concerned with the perceived needs of the crease in the number of Commonwealth made it clear why autonomy is to be considered of approach is comparative and my analysis is aimed at community, In 1 980, despite the obvious difficulty of Postgraduate Research and Course Work awards value in relation to the university system. Is university an understanding of the fundamental difference providing evening classes as well as day classes in a received by the University for 1981 . It reflects the autonomy to be considered an end in itself or is itto be between the Anglo-Saxon and the German-Swedish small university, an increased number of units was of high activity in research and postgraduate studies regarded as a means to some valuable end? An type, between an independent system and a depen fered at times suited to part-time students. The de which differentiates a university, "comprehensive" answer presupposes some kind of deeper dent system or in the terminology of the analysis, the mand for part-time studies wi!! never be very large in or otherwise, from other institutions. understanding of the functions of autonomy within autonomy-oriented system and the heteronomy oriented system. anyone discipline, and it is likely that courses may The Tasmanian experiment will take some years to university systems; it would, in effect, require a have to be provided for part-time students in rotation, work out and premature judgment is unwise. theory of university autonomy. the range being limited in anyone year. Whatever the judgment may finally be, the University
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