Love the caps or loathe them, it’s time to ask why we don’t have an effective campaign reminding voters exactly why tertiary education can no longer be tossed around as a policy plaything.
As Angel Calderon asks in this issue, will this be the lost decade for Australian HE? The answer is that if the sector doesn’t coalesce to win support from the electorate, the answer may well be yes.
Sure, some unis hold hopes that caps will recalibrate the playing field in international recruitment and get them better enrolments – while others can only see a hare-brained hit to their existing operating model and have already jumped to internal job cuts.
Whichever side of the caps fence you are on, we can surely all agree that:
- The hollow reassurances of both major parties that they value international students while also chasing votes by beating their chests over how many tens of thousands of students they can shut out of the country has damaged the reputation of Australia as an education destination internationally
- The expected small bag of dollars to come at MYEFO or pre-election will not rescue the Accord
- The Australian public contemplating whether to fill the car or buy a pre-roasted chicken from the supermarket for dinner still don’t think there are consequences for both parties withdrawing revenue certainty from the tertiary sector.
Let’s be candid with each other. This battle isn’t going to be won or lost in any Senate Committee rooms. We need to be smarter, to learn from other sectors that have succeeded where we are currently failing.
If voters at the next election realise that they may not get enough nurses next year, they may not be able to buy a pre-roasted chicken if avian flu experts aren’t trained, they may not see their children graduate into jobs as the nation’s economy falters, then suddenly some of the advantages of tertiary education that are taken for granted could come into focus.
I have been working with colleagues to develop new positioning, but whether that work goes anywhere depends on the sector. A leading advertising creative, Rory Mclean, recently described how we need to morph from ‘Universities Matter’ to ‘Australians Matter’ or if we are a little less parochial over time, ‘Humans Matter/ You Matter.’
The paradox of our position is that we have to talk less about ourselves in order to strengthen ourselves. Under the current approach to engagement, the lost decade is beckoning.
