Barney Glover gets ATEC is a big deal, the biggest change in university culture for 20 years, he tells FC. And now that the Australian Tertiary Education Commission is a happening thing, as Interim Chief Commissioner, he is clearly keen to help make it happen as always intended, to be “a trusted system steward, an advocate for the sector.” Plus much, much more.
Professor Glover was a member of Mary O’Kane’s Universities Accord which re-designed the national HE system for Education Minister Jason Clare. ATEC was the core of their plan – an agency that respected institutions’ autonomy, while energising them to expand the economy and become engines of social mobility, accessed by the most disadvantaged young Australians.
It turned out to be an easy sell. Despite fears that ATEC is not appropriately independent of government, the key HE lobbies all backed its creation. And now it is off to a flying start, with discussions about to start between individual universities and ATEC to establish compacts on what universities will teach and to how many publicly funded students they will have. After a one-year practice go in 2027, ATEC and each university will agree on a four-year plan, reviewed annually , set in the context of meeting national skills and workforce priorities to grow the economy and improving university performance in core areas including: teaching, equity and access, connections with VET and (to come) “in sustaining national capability and supporting innovation in the economy.” Changes for student numbers for specific courses is a matter for the Minister.
ATEC’s overall authority (FC’s word not Glover’s) comes from allocating Commonwealth Supported Places, not dollars, places, “to ensure fair distribution and meet Australia's skills needs.” The former is also supported by the Government’s commitment to what is effectively demand-driven funding of places for students from “underrepresented backgrounds.”
In terms of overall enrolments, each university will commit to courses that meet priorities in the context of their own expertise and Professor Glover says being autonomous, they are free to move student load and ATEC will negotiate changes; that the materiality of a move is what matter. “It will be about working together.” And it will all be upfront, with each compact published within a month.
There is more to come. ATEC will have briefs to oversight international education and research students, but it is the allocation of CSP places between providers and effectiveness in meeting government priorities that will require considerable time and vast amounts of data to analyse and allocate.
It sounds immensely complicated, but Professor Glover does not seem fussed; there will be half a dozen or so ATEC staff managing relations with universities. Overall, the Commission now has just under 100 staff and he does not expect dramatically more.
And the times are on ATEC’s side, with a Government committed to expanding access to higher education. Professor Glover says things would be different if a government capped places or funding for them.