Submission to the Panel
As the first comprehensive review of the sector in almost 20 years, the Australian Universities Accord has the potential to ensure lasting reform of the higher education sector with as much if not more impact than the previous Bradley Review (2008) and the Higher Education at a Crossroads Review (2002). Specifically, the Accord provides an opportunity to:
- reset community, business, government and academic expectations about the value, values, and purpose of higher education and research
- to streamline and ‘right-size’ university funding, policy, and regulation on a long-term basis with clear goals and staged milestones
- to embed equity and diversity across the sector
- to rationalise and integrate the form and function of our universities, with consideration for their role in shaping Australian society and our place in the world.
The Academy suggests five issues to be key priorities for consideration by the Panel:
- Reaffirm and reinforce international links and global approaches of Australian universities
- Regulatory frameworks and funding models that ensure differentiation and value-add rather than impose a tendency to uniformity across Australian universities
- A research ecosystem that allows universities to act as producers of world-class knowledge, innovation, and capacity development within a more efficient national research enterprise
- Policies and funding that encourage universities to stay at the forefront of teaching and learning science and technology
- Ensuring equity and diversity of opportunity and inclusion across university education, research, and administration.
Click on ‘download’ to read the submission in full.
