Goodbye punitive-level caps and hello ATEC – oh and yes we see you there JRG, you’ve been at the back of the room all the time, and while both parties hoped we would forget you, you know we can’t.
The victory of Anthony Albanese’s Government has ensured the devil you know retains the reins for the sector, but with expectation that Jason Clare may be elevated to a portfolio more befitting a consummate spruiker, shifting to an area the public actually care about, many expect a new face in the Education Minister departmental mugshot in the week to come.
The election provided confirmation that higher education had about as much social licence as a MAGA acolyte at an integrity seminar. HE got plenty of mentions, but only in the context of tough talk on immigration or relief from oppressive debt. Although Trumpet of Patriots did manage to annoy legions of voters with the promise to double fees for foreign students and provide free education for Australians – with the election results clearly demonstrating the plausibility of that math.
Research on the other hand, that area so important to the Government that they haven’t bothered measuring research performance nationally for seven years, did not appear to register a micro blip on the election radar.
So where to from here?
Starting the term of the new Parliament by shedding the pretence that existing lobbying efforts are working would be a good start.
Preparing for more intensive regulation (ATEC has to justify its existence somehow) and a new funding model, at the least for students covered by the needs-based model would have to be priorities for this term.
Individual institutions will explore new ways to build stronger connection with communities, given that sector-wide efforts have failed.
International offices will have to open their doors and explore hitherto unvisited areas across campus as they engineer new approaches to rekindle trust in the Australian education brand proposition.
And a whole lot more effort will continue to go into TNE. By denting international student demand with rhetoric and higher visa fees, capping intakes, and ramping up compliance costs, the Albanese Government’s net policy impact is to drive Australian institutions to focus on offshore campuses educating students from other nations, in order to maintain revenue streams, growth opportunities and a trickle of income to keep research projects propped up.
Meanwhile TAFE gets billions for fee-free classes, but not the money required to address the student support and structural issues which drive unacceptable attrition rates in some disciplines and ongoing institutional resourcing poverty.
In a few years when policy wizards awaken to this reality, there will be a shift. I give the caps bravado two years before the brakes come off.
In the meantime, a precious few institutions are preparing to actually embrace proper changes to their operating models, noticing at last the untapped revenue and high-impact research opportunities that can come when they allow outsiders to lower the bureaucratic drawbridge.
It’s an exciting time for higher education, with plenty of opportunity for growth, as long as staff and leaders can shed their obsession with restoring the pre-COVID paradigm.
And as for the poor humanities students blighted by the Job Ready Graduates fee setting scam/scheme. It’s clear universities can’t save you from your plight – so take some of those well-taught words and coalesce to drive your own case. It’s the only way that thing is going to be changed any time soon.
