Engagement Australia Responds to Senate Inquiry on University Governance

Engagement Australia response to the Senate Inquiry into the quality of governance at Australian Higher Education Providers

By Dr Matthew Pink and Professor the Hon. Verity Firth AM

Engagement Australia supports the recommendations of the Senate Inquiry that concern the primacy of education and research for the public good. Logically, EA supports any measures that can support and improve university governance in the sector with the recognition that stability regarding funding mechanisms and government priorities are an important part of this picture. Australian universities are too often left reeling from political decisions that upend university strategy and financial management. Notwithstanding, the need for improved governance in the sector is accepted.

Engagement Australia also supports any mechanism that aims to support the rights of higher education employees, quality teaching, and the student experience. As argued by Ana Stenvenson in the recent issue of Transform, employee stability in our sector also affects our ability to partner effectively with community and industry. We will be interested to see how recommendations from the inquiry are enacted by the government through ATEC, TEQSA, and hopefully ongoing dialogue with the sector and lobby groups. However, in our response to the inquiry we wish to focus in on universities as institutions for the public good.

We wish to argue that being a university for the public good means teaching and research that goes beyond the individual benefits students receive from their degrees, or research that has little utility beyond the academy. We draw attention to the Higher Education Threshold Standards (2021) section B.1.3. 12 &13. The higher education provider,

12. demonstrates engagement with employers, industry, and the professions in areas in which it offers courses of study. This engagement may include, but is not limited to, curriculum development, professional engagement, work-integrated learning, and research partnerships, and

13. demonstrates strong civic leadership, engagement with its local and regional communities, and a commitment to social responsibility.

We argue that in tightening governance requirements across the sector, this should also include a broader and more appropriate understanding of what it means to be a higher education for the public good. This understanding would include how engagement with community, industry, and government is central to how the core business of universities can be impactful on society, consistent with the tenets of the Universities Accord, and transcending the critique of short-sighted neoliberal modes of university functioning. We call for a sharp focus on the potential of mission-based compacts via ATEC, and funding models that truly reward engaged practices in the teaching, research, and outreach activities of our universities.

As we stated in our contributions to the Accord Interim Report,

“Beyond producing graduates and research, the purpose of the modern Australian university needs to be more explicitly connected to civic outcomes that advance Australian society, and this should be intrinsically tied to the engaged teaching, research, and outreach functions of the university.”

Professor Zlatko Skrbis, Vice-Chancellor and President of Australian Catholic University made the argument however that the mission-based compacts need to go beyond mere compliance activities to deep and serious anchoring and planning that ties a university to contextually appropriate and broadly impactful activities. Further still, such efforts would also increase accountability to these broader impacts. We will continue to advocate for a more engaged higher education sector.