Australian students are going to have less latitude to choose what they study in Australia’s tertiary system under new funding arrangements.
In a wide-ranging address to the National Press Club this week, Griffith University Vice-Chancellor Carolyn Evans noted, “The Government is creating more of a system and less of a free market. The current legislation does reduce student choice and it does that in the name of system stability.”
The Albanese Government’s move to a planned system with less student choice will kick in under new legislation which will enable the Australian Tertiary Education Commission to move around CSPs to institutions and courses under the watchful eye of the Education Minister. The Minister will also set the size of the total CSP pool for the country under the legislation currently before the Senate.
Henry Ford sold an awful lot of Model T's with the maxim that the customer could have any colour they wanted, as long as it was black. It is possible that 1920's automobile purchases are driven by different values and dynamics than 2020's tertiary education enrolments, but Mr Clare has momentum on his side in implementing the new deal for Australian students.
This is interesting, because it is the same goal which the Morrison Government attempted to achieve with the Job Ready Graduates funding model, which failed dismally, but has been stubbornly maintained ever since. Will the Government have more success manipulating demand by withholding places in courses it wishes to constrict and expanding places in unpopular but worthy areas; instead of JRG's fee differentials? Only time and future compacts will tell.
Many questions remain. Do the nation’s future students understand that their capacity to choose which course they wish to study is being curtailed? Is the Minister’s guess of what the nation needs in terms of graduate numbers and disciplines in three years time, is that a better reflection of the national interest than simply allowing people to choose what they want to study? And what happens if there continues to be waning interest in studying maths, languages or do an apprenticeship to be a tradie? Will there be more stick or an expensive bunch of carrots required to bend the will of the populace and get a closer match between course preferences and workforce needs?
Fortunately, an article sprang into FC’s view yesterday lunchtime that explained a lot – a hot take on why apprenticeship numbers were plunging while Aussie students flocked to uni. The author opines that schools are to blame for overhyping uni and that “Some people are under the impression that entrance ATARs are reflective of difficulty, when they’re actually reflective of popularity.”
The article also suggests a solution; “Why on Earth are we not gathering up Australian teenagers and sending them off to learn and perform these trades?”
It may come as a surprise some that the publication in question would be A. endorsing a Soviet-style conscription of labourers and B. endorsing (perhaps unwittingly) the general direction of Mr Clare’s plans. Regardless, the lesson appears to be that our most recent crop of would-be tertiary students need to learn that Government knows best and personal choice has to take a back seat to national interest.
Now if someone can just work out how to get that message out to the class of 2026 and their parents…