THEAUSfRAU~ UNlVERSmES'REVIEW 3 SF: or CIo,. Encounter. ot lhe Tertl.ry Kind - Neil Ndason 11 COOfdlnatlon 01 Terti.ry Edue.tlon In Au, tr,ll, - R E pary 15 Fed'f.llntervlntlon In Au.lf,llIn EducaUon: Put, Pr••• nt end Future - W 0 Neal 20 Crl,l, Mln.gemlnl - TBfry Hare 28 The URi",,.lly T•• ch,r Strike. - or Almo.U - Kevlfl HI'1C8 35 Unlversitl •• snd T•• ch" Tr.l"i"g - Alan Barcan 42 Opening Tertl.ry Educ.non - Some Implications 0' Olff.r,nl App,.,.ch.. - Bram Smith .1 The Adjustment 01 Mature Age Unm.triculilled Entflnt, to lIf. I I Intern. I Studlnt • • t the Unlver.lly of New E"gllnd: A Pilot Study - David Walkins 52 Ac.demic St.ft Alloc:.tton Procedure. In In . tltullan. In Au,tr,lI, - ISH GMaon and E POlio 55 ReYle. and letler 10 the Editor PUBLISHED BY FAUSA VOL. 22. 1979. No. 1 ISSN 0042-4560 Journal 01 the Federation of Australian University Siall Associations 1979 Vol. 22 No 1 EDITOR Vestes will In future be published tWice a year, once in April and Mr. J. E. Anwyl, once in November. Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University 01 Melbourne Editorial Policy BUSINESS MANAGER Vestes is the journal 01 the Federation of Australian University Staff Mr, L. B. Wallis, Associations. It aims to be a forum for the discussion of issues con· General Secretary, fronting Australian universities with particular reference to those Federation of Australian University Staft Associalions, matters which concern FAUSA and its member associations. These 499 St, Kilda Road, can broadly be categorised as institutional issues and staff issues. Melbourne, Vic. 3004 Phone: (03) 26 1264 The institutional issues are those covered by such topics as univer­ EDITORIAL COMMITTEE sity funding and the role of funding bodies, government education Dr 8 8essant policy. commonwealth/state relationships. co·ordination and ra­ Dr A D. Spaull tionalisation of tertiary education, education inquiries, recurrent and Mr L 8. Wallis further education in universities, proposals lor amalgamation of in­ stitutions, tuition fees. research funding, state tertiary education co-ordinating bodies, university autonomy and accountability and ISSN 0042-4560 university and departmental government, The staff issues cover such topics as academic freedom and tenure, fixed-term appoint· ments, study leave and conference leave, academic salaries and conditions, promotion procedures and assessment of teaching In each of these areas articles will be assessed on their intrinsic merit, by the use of independent referees, and the contribution which they make to the important issues of the day confronting the Federation, whether the articles in themselves support or oppose Federation policies: although the Editor will strive to achieve a balance of views in cases where an article takes an attitude direclly opposed to that of the Federation. A lower priority will be given to articles which are restricted to particular disciplinary areas, which are particularly oriented to student rather than stall ne"eds or prob· lems, or which deal with the details of educational tecllnlques rather than with broader university problems Notes to Contributors Manuscripts should normally be limited to 4000 words although longer articles willi be considered. Books for review should be ad· dressed to the Editor; the policy 01 Vestes is to review only books dealing with universities and tertiary education generally Subscriptions Annual subscriptions. postage paid, cost within Australia $5.50; Elsewhere-Surface mail $US6,50, or £3.00 sterling Airmail $US9.00. £4.75 sterling Advertising Rates available on application to Business Manager Current circula­ tion approx, 9000 copies per issue SF: OR CLOSE ENCOUNTERS Neil School of Educa'lon. OF THE TERTIARY KIND Flinders UniverSity New Foundation and Empire recommending that within the concept of a New Federalism the States and the Commonwealth Another galaxy, another time. might "jointly explore" ways to provide a "ra­ Once, under the wise rule of the Senate the Republic throve and grew. But as often tionalisation" of educational provision in Australia. happens, , , then appear those evil ones "Rationalisation" is currently the magic word, as we who have greed to match. all know; and the date eventually chosen fo~ the Star Wars. Prologue special meeting of representatives was the very day before the birthday of the newly formed Ter­ "SF", as we all know, stands for Shared Funding. tiary Education Commission. Admittedly my story does happen to begin like many a piece of science fiction, with a metamor­ No State could afford in the present season of En­ phosis. On the whole however it is closer to Kafka, quiries to boycott a meeting which offered col­ "We have" (says The Senator on the first page of a laboration, and which with its emphasis on coor­ script which I must say has had a surprisingly small dination and rationalisation was both in timing and circulation) - "we have one of those metamor­ intent not merely defensible but propitious. The phoses happening at midnight tonight. We have meeting was duly approved by the Premiers' Con­ with us a fellow named Peter Karmel who until mid­ ference in April 1977. The job of transforming this night tonight is the Chairman of the Universities occasion into a vehicle by which the States could Commission and tomorrow is the Chairman of the be softened up and the public prepared for the Tertiary'Education Commission." Prime Minister's determination to renege on Com­ monwealth financial responsibility for the univer­ But this is to anticipate. The slightly theatrical piece sities and colleges was left to The Senator. I just quoted gives only the faintest foretaste of the drama which is yet to unfold. We had heard The strategy was clearly adumbrated in that rumours of The Revolt in our local cluster - the February letter which Malcolm Fraser signed. barest hints dropped by frustrated politicians or Beginning with a concept as unexceptionable as anxious administrators. They spoke in whispers or "rationalisation" (for who would openly declare with studied ambiguity about "The Great En­ himself against Reason?) - beginning with this counter" which had taken place somewhere in the then, and slipping in "coordinatlon"(the Birthday) as East in June. Then the media got onto a bit of it and a catalyst, the problem was how to contrive a situa­ we received the astounding news that a further tion in which the States would end up with empty skirmish has taken place outside the System pockets but the promise of unlimited political (somewhere they say near the Kunstkopf Nebula, odium. They hoped to achieve even this however Messier:NZ 78/78) - at a cost of billions. And then by a blending of two strategies: the first, rhetorical silence. It was about this time that The Script arriv­ (rationalisation and all that): and the second, ed by mail, anonymously and in a plain wrapper. At substantive (States rights and all that). The former first I didn't realise its significance, and it was, after was reinforced as we have seen with a fine sense all, obviously only a fragment. But on looking at it of occasion; while the second offered splendid pro­ more closely I suddenly had the feeling that I was mise of dissension among the "cooperating" client onto something really big. Fragment though it was, States. it was all I had: and as I read and re-read it the characters, human and otherwise, acquired The rhetorical shift was achieved by grasping the substance, and gradually the whole thing began to "coordination" handle of rationalisation and fall into place . gradually twisting it as follows. Rationalisation in any practical sense must involve administration, There was one precious link with reality - the date. and administration in real sense involves finance. It has to have been 21 June 1977. I should guess The whole business of educational planning so far from internal evidence that the action lasts from has been frustrated (even, for example, in such ap­ about 10.07 a.m. until 3.32 in the afternoon, with a parently simple matters as the determination of break for lunch. Three of the characters are enrolments) by gratuitous idiosyncrasy. But surely definitely human: Neil Batt, Lindsay Thompson and the complementary process to tidying up the in­ Don Hopgood. And they are the ones worth telligence operation (the TEe.) would be to tidy watching in what follows. up the funding arrangements. This it seems would be as sensible as it is innocently procedural. Accor­ It all began it seems with a letter from the Prime dingly we have the Commonwealth people em­ Minister to the Premiers on 21 February 1977, phasizing the needless complexity of the present 2 3 arrangements. The total funding of universities and cise, how much it will delimit your souls if there is a Although Queensland and Western Australia cer­ problem about the present funding of universities colleges is contrasted with the shared funding of situation in which there is to be allowed an tainly had complaints about being a bit short and an and colleges" (78), and he resolutely refused to the schools. And within the post-secondary sector atmosphere in which the whole pressures are for honest desire that in some way "decision-making countenance any discussions along those lines. the total funding of the universities and colleges is expansion on the one hand and on your part a be returned to the States" (Peter Jones, 36). they "'We are not even interested in discussing it at of­ compared with the "topping up" arrangements with diminution of responsibility. "(9) were quite content to allow the Commonwealth to ficer level ... We believe simply that the funding of the variously controlled Further Education sector.