University leaders are under renewed attack from politicians, media and the industry union.
Last week, the Senate heard university communities “felt betrayed, undermined and let down.” Senator Marielle Smith was commenting on a committee inquiry into university management which found, “poor governance at our universities has failed both staff and students.”
Her committee colleague Tony Sheldon added that, “vice-chancellors are outsourcing their responsibilities through consultancy firms that have vested interests. These firms are advising universities on how to restructure their organisations and—surprise—the result is the use of more consultants. Vice-chancellors are handing over the keys to the safe.”
“Too many vice-chancellors and chancellors have ducked and weaved when their decisions have been put under scrutiny.”
And he thanked the National Tertiary Education Union, “for their relentless pursuit of high standards in this sector.”
The Senators were commenting on a Senate committee report, delivered in December.
They were speaking ahead of a report on ABC TV’s Four Corners, which, “investigated how years of shrinking public funding, rising debt and increasingly corporate decision making have pushed some of the nation's most important public institutions to breaking point.”
According to the ABC, the program revealed “the scale of spending on outside consultants and asks what that means for transparency, accountability and the future of higher education.”
On which NTEU President Alison Barnes, comments, “an exposé of this magnitude shapes as a watershed moment in our campaign to reform university governance … a massive milestone on our collective journey to win real reform.
“This is our win,” she told members last week.
Given the focus of national attention this week on Desi Freeman, petrol prices and anything President Trump says night or day, the hoped-for impact and public interest will not have been as large as the detractors hoped.