The nation’s senior-in-stature Chancellor, Peter Varghese (Uni Queensland) has spoken up on the intervention of Tertiary Education Quality Standards Agency (TEQSA) at ANU – following the decision by the nation’s HE regulator to take control of a key area of governance.
His full statement is:
“TEQSA’s intervention in the process for selecting the next chancellor of the ANU sets a dangerous precedent and is part of a disturbing pattern of intrusions into the autonomy of universities.
Selecting the chair of a governing council should be the exclusive prerogative of that council. The regulator should have no influence on who is chosen.
This is not preciousness. It goes to the heart of a foundational principle of Australian universities. The Australian community has every right to expect our universities to be run well. But the essence of autonomy is that you are responsible for fixing what has gone wrong and are held accountable for doing so.
Regulatory overreach weakens public institutions. It is wrong in principle and corrosive in practice.
If universities don’t defend their autonomy, don’t expect anyone else will.”
It is a significant statement from the former diplomat and DFAT Secretary – mirroring the shock privately expressed by other sector leaders.