Barney Glover says ATEC and universities will develop a system, “in a way that we haven’t seen before” and that includes replacing the Job Ready Graduates funding model. And yes, he knows what it should not include.
Professor Glover, inaugural Chief Commissioner of the Australian Tertiary Education Commission (ATEC), told a Universities Australian audience on Wednesday that ATEC exists to work with, not direct, universities – and will be an independent steward for the system.
“My fellow Commissioners are intensely aware of their independence … the ATEC model can work and will work,” he said.
He added that while Government decides funding for teaching and announces expectations for universities, it will up to ATEC, in consultation with institutions, to allocate CSPs and pursue national objectives.
National priorities include closer connections between VET and HE to deliver the 80% target of Australians with tertiary qualifications and growth in equity student places. “This is an accountability measure we can all accept,” Professor Glover said.
However, he was also clear that delivery depended on Government fully funding student places to end “toxic competition” between institutions and provide stable opportunities for growth.
He pointed to work underway to establish efficient costs of CSPs and ruled out a “zero-sum change,” where lower student contributions in some courses are funded by increasing others.
As to measures of success in five years, he nominated sustainability, stability and consistency delivered by a joined-up, unshackled system.