tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/university-governance-4337/articlesUniversity governance – The Conversation2022-06-01T20:12:47Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1839772022-06-01T20:12:47Z2022-06-01T20:12:47ZWhy big university surpluses underscore the need to reform how they are funded and governed<p>The election of a new Labor federal government probably drew sighs of relief across the higher education sector. University staff and students will be hoping for a more sympathetic approach than they received from the Coalition government.</p>
<p>Tertiary education lobby groups have already put forward their wish lists and funding priorities. Yet the case for increasing funding might be a harder sell now that several universities have announced <a href="https://campusmorningmail.com.au/news/buckets-of-money-at-big-sydney-unis/">staggeringly large surpluses</a> in their annual reports.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/labors-promised-universities-accord-could-be-a-turning-point-for-higher-education-in-australia-183810">Labor's promised universities accord could be a turning point for higher education in Australia</a>
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<h2>So how big were these surpluses?</h2>
<p>The University of Sydney’s <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/sydney-university-records-1-billion-surplus-as-staff-demand-a-share-20220523-p5anv2.html">A$1.04 billion operating surplus</a> stands out. But the biggest universities’ annual reports all show <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/universities-large-surpluses-complicate-their-case-for-aid/news-story/cb59b68d12651d19bb95c072b23d4d44">healthy surpluses</a>. <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/victorian-unis-bounce-back-despite-pandemic-pressures-on-income-20220503-p5ai06.html">Monash</a>, <a href="https://campusmorningmail.com.au/news/buckets-of-money-at-big-sydney-unis/">UNSW</a> and <a href="https://www.couriermail.com.au/education-queensland/big-salaries-are-back-as-universities-recover-from-covid/news-story/e42c550343d4fe766a575683f97408b8">Queensland</a> have reported surpluses of more than $300 million. </p>
<p>While some universities, such as <a href="https://campusmorningmail.com.au/news/vic-uni-finances-theyre-still-standing/">La Trobe</a>, reported operating losses, many <a href="https://campusmorningmail.com.au/news/wa-uni-2021-financials-saved-by-the-feds/">other</a> <a href="https://campusmorningmail.com.au/news/vic-uni-finances-theyre-still-standing/">universities</a> around the country also <a href="https://campusmorningmail.com.au/news/uni-financial-results-some-look-better-than-they-like-to-admit/">recorded</a> surpluses, including some that aren’t far off Sydney’s result in relative terms. Examples include <a href="https://honisoit.com/2022/05/usyd-records-1-04-billion-surplus-for-2021/">Charles Sturt</a> (a 21% surplus of $143 million) and <a href="https://www.2nurfm.com.au/news/university-of-newcastle-defends-185-million-surplus-after-union-backlash/">Newcastle</a> (a 19% surplus of $185 million).</p>
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<p>The new government is already committed to fiscally expansive policies in areas such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme (<a href="https://theconversation.com/labor-vows-to-tackle-the-ndis-crisis-whats-needed-is-more-autonomy-for-people-with-disability-181470">NDIS</a>), <a href="https://theconversation.com/labors-plans-for-aged-care-are-targeted-but-fall-short-of-whats-needed-180497">aged care</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/high-childcare-fees-low-pay-for-staff-and-a-lack-of-places-pose-a-huge-policy-challenge-183617">early childhood education</a>. In an inflationary environment, it might be tempted to take a light-touch approach to university funding – scrap the Coalition’s incoherent <a href="https://theconversation.com/labor-offers-extra-university-places-but-more-radical-change-is-needed-173219">Job-Ready Graduates Package</a> and let universities look after themselves. </p>
<p>After all, despite regularly decrying the damage done by the Morrison government, Labor in opposition made few concrete policy commitments to universities beyond the welcome addition of 20,000 student places.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/labor-offers-extra-university-places-but-more-radical-change-is-needed-173219">Labor offers extra university places, but more radical change is needed</a>
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<p>However, the latest university surpluses actually highlight, rather than diminish, the case for more public funding, and indeed for broader reform of university governance and finances. The key to understanding this lies in the market-based sources of revenue that underpinned these surpluses.</p>
<p>Take the University of Sydney. According to its <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/about-us/vision-and-values/annual-report.html">annual report</a>, the surplus was: </p>
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<p>“mainly due to increases in overseas student enrolments, strong investment performance and non-recurring items including the Commonwealth Government’s $95.1 million Research Support Program contribution and the net gains from the disposal of property assets”.</p>
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<p>International student fee income increased by about $250 million. Investment returns were up by almost $400 million. </p>
<p>It was a similar story elsewhere. Newcastle University reaped <a href="https://campusmorningmail.com.au/news/uni-financial-results-some-look-better-than-they-like-to-admit/">$119 million</a> in additional investment income and UNSW <a href="https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/sites/default/files/attachments/publications/2021-annual-report-v20b-digital-single.pdf">$117 million</a>. Many universities also profited from <a href="https://thepienews.com/news/australian-universities-sell-stake-in-idp-to-offset-losses/">selling their shares</a> in international student placement business IDP Education. </p>
<p>On the downside, the University of Wollongong <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/student-housing-deal-gone-sour-costs-uni-of-wollongong-169m/news-story/ff0ff2aeac32b1b079843ace877091a5">lost $169 million</a> after terminating its contract with a private student accommodation provider it had been underwriting.</p>
<h2>Remember, these are public institutions</h2>
<p>Bear in mind that these universities are public institutions. They are created by acts of parliament. A <a href="https://www.teqsa.gov.au/what-we-do">public agency</a> accredits and regulates their degree-conferring ability.</p>
<p>Public universities have legislated responsibilities to serve public ends. Yet they resemble profit-driven corporations in their financial governance. </p>
<p>This has been evident during the past two years. Having been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/04/australian-universities-angry-at-final-twist-of-the-knife-excluding-them-from-jobkeeper">denied JobKeeper</a> by the Coalition government, universities savagely cut staff. First casuals, then fixed-term staff, and then staff on ongoing contracts. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/after-2-years-of-covid-how-bad-has-it-really-been-for-university-finances-and-staff-172405">After 2 years of COVID, how bad has it really been for university finances and staff?</a>
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<p>In response to what loomed as a short-term drop in income from international students, university leaders took the corporate route. They restructured aggressively, losing incalculable expertise and institutional memory and throwing thousands of staff into unemployment. This process boosted “profits”, with employee expenses down at many universities.</p>
<p>Given the composition of university governing councils – about <a href="https://theconversation.com/2-out-of-3-members-of-university-governing-bodies-have-no-professional-expertise-in-the-sector-theres-the-making-of-a-crisis-171952">one-third of members</a> are from the corporate sector – it’s hardly surprising a for-profit orientation has come to dominate. </p>
<h2>What is the role of federal funding?</h2>
<p><a href="http://publicuniversities.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/University-Governance-Fact-Sheet.pdf">Federal funding settings</a> have played a role. Successive federal governments have refused to fund the full costs of university <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-analysis-shows-morrison-government-funding-wont-cover-any-extra-uni-student-places-for-years-167542">teaching</a> and <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp2122/Quick_Guides/UniversityResearchFunding">research</a>.</p>
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<p>Government funding accounts for <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/907-Mapping-Australian-higher-education-2018.pdf">a little over half</a> of higher education revenue, if government <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/higher-education-loan-program">HELP contributions</a> are included. This creates an incentive for university chiefs to pursue private sources of revenue to make up the shortfalls. Consistent with the corporate approach, the risks arising from market exposure have been devolved to staff by loading up on insecure employment (<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-17/university-casual-workforce-redundancies-dirty-secret/12462030">nearly 70%</a> of the higher education workforce) and rolling workplace restructures.</p>
<p>Surplus revenues are earmarked for infrastructure investment or “to shield the University against unforeseen circumstances”, as the University of Sydney annual report states. Except, as we saw over the past two years, when “unforeseen circumstances” arose, staff bore the brunt to preserve balance sheets.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-what-the-government-and-universities-can-do-about-the-crisis-of-insecure-academic-work-183345">Here's what the government and universities can do about the crisis of insecure academic work</a>
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<h2>What can governments do?</h2>
<p>Such perverse dynamics are out of place at a public institution. And this is the point at which federal policy can play a positive role. Increased and stable federal funding would reduce the incentive for university chiefs to pursue market-based sources of revenue and help avoid the wild budget gyrations of recent years. </p>
<p>But, given the corporate orientation of university governing boards, this would do little in and of itself to fix problems such as chronic <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-what-the-government-and-universities-can-do-about-the-crisis-of-insecure-academic-work-183345">job insecurity</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/hit-hard-by-the-pandemic-researchers-expect-its-impacts-to-linger-for-years-169366">increasing workloads</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/2-out-of-3-members-of-university-governing-bodies-have-no-professional-expertise-in-the-sector-theres-the-making-of-a-crisis-171952">2 out of 3 members of university governing bodies have no professional expertise in the sector. There's the making of a crisis</a>
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<p>Governance structures are a state responsibility. However, federal legislation can nonetheless influence universities’ internal resource allocation. The work of the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Job_Security/JobSecurity">Senate Select Committee on Job Security</a> provides a good starting point. </p>
<p>The committee sought to place responsibility on universities, as public institutions, to achieve positive employment outcomes. It <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/committees/reportsen/024764/toc_pdf/Secondinterimreportinsecurityinpublicly-fundedjobs.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">recommended</a>:</p>
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<p>“as a condition of receiving public funding, universities […] set publicly available targets for increasing permanent employment and reducing casualisation”.</p>
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<p>It also argued the government should legislate to improve the ability of unions to inspect the records of universities with respect to potential wage theft.</p>
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<p>Such an approach is well within the remit of government. It could steer universities towards more positive outcomes for employees, students and the broader community. As it stands, university vice-chancellors seem to be saving for a rainy day, when a typhoon is sweeping across the sector.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183977/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Damien Cahill is Secretary of the National Tertiary Education Union NSW.</span></em></p>Reports of big university budget surpluses appear to undermine calls for their federal funding to increase. But a closer look at how the surpluses were achieved reveals why change is needed.Damien Cahill, Associate Professor in Political Economy, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1838102022-05-31T20:12:49Z2022-05-31T20:12:49ZLabor’s promised universities accord could be a turning point for higher education in Australia<p><em>This essay is longer than our usual articles, so please set aside a little extra time to read and enjoy.</em></p>
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<p>Australian higher education could arrive at a turning point in the next three years. Not because the incoming Albanese government is likely to increase funding greatly. And not because it has ambitious plans to change higher education. </p>
<p>The reason is likely to be the <a href="https://www.alp.org.au/policies/your-education">universities accord</a> promised by Labor. The turning point is likely to emerge from rebuilding shared understandings of how to manage the pressures that built up over the past decade and how to negotiate a transition to a different higher education sector over the next decade. </p>
<p>These pressures have fractured a sense of a common purpose within the sector and among its interest groups. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/3-big-issues-in-higher-education-demand-the-new-governments-attention-183349">3 big issues in higher education demand the new government's attention</a>
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<h2>Pressures for a new settlement</h2>
<p>Pressures for a new settlement in higher education arise not just from the replacement of a government widely perceived within the sector as being <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-the-australian-government-letting-universities-suffer-138514">unsympathetic</a> to it, though that didn’t help. The new government’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/albanese-appoints-former-university-of-melbourne-vice-chancellor-glyn-davis-to-head-pmandc-184059">appointment</a> of former University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Glyn Davis to head the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has been <a href="https://www.universitiesaustralia.edu.au/media-item/ua-welcomes-new-pmc-head-glyn-davis/">welcomed</a> as a positive sign.</p>
<p>We have seen relations fracture along three lines:</p>
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<li>between university staff and many of their managements that they regard as exploitative</li>
<li>between students and universities that they see as driven to maximise “profits”</li>
<li>between communities and government and universities that they consider to be self-serving.</li>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-are-not-corporations-600-australian-academics-call-for-change-to-uni-governance-structures-143254">'Universities are not corporations': 600 Australian academics call for change to uni governance structures</a>
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<p>The sources of these tensions are substantial long-term and widespread changes in the nature of higher education, its relations with work, its globalisation, the transforming role of research, broader economic and social changes, and their management by universities and governments. </p>
<h2>Accords past and imminent</h2>
<p>As Labor’s shadow education minister, Tanya Plibersek <a href="https://www.tanyaplibersek.com/media/speeches/tanya-plibersek-speech-to-the-afr-higher-education-conference-sydney-monday-16-august-2021/">foreshadowed</a> the universities accord in August 2021. She said:</p>
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<p>“The accord would be a partnership between universities and staff, unions and business, students and parents, and, ideally, Labor and Liberal, that lays out what we expect from our universities. […]”</p>
<p>“The aim of an accord would be to build consensus on key policy questions and national priorities in a sober, evidence-based way, without so much of the political cut and thrust. Building that consensus should help university reform stick. […]”</p>
<p>“The accord process would be led by the minister with advice from a small group of eminent Australians from across the political spectrum. No aspect of the higher education system will be out of bounds.”</p>
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<p>Labor leader Anthony Albanese stressed this change in approach in his <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-22/anthony-albanese-acceptance-speech-full-transcript/101088736">election victory speech</a>. He promised to “seek our common purpose and promote unity”, “find that common ground” and “work in common interests with business and unions”.</p>
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<p>Albanese has often said he wants to emulate the consensus style of governing of <a href="https://theconversation.com/vale-bob-hawke-a-giant-of-australian-political-and-industrial-history-93719">Bob Hawke</a>, the Labor prime minister from 1983 to 1991.</p>
<p>The promise of a universities accord consciously invokes the <a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-the-prices-and-incomes-accord-75622">Prices and Incomes Accord</a>, the series of agreements negotiated by the Hawke government from 1983 to 1991. Those accords traded off pay rises for increases in the “social wage” such as Medicare, pensions and unemployment benefits and, eventually, superannuation.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-politics-explainer-the-prices-and-incomes-accord-75622">Australian politics explainer: the Prices and Incomes Accord</a>
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<p>Plibersek didn’t seem to contemplate a grand bargain in higher education, but said last August a Labor government would want the accord to address “<a href="https://www.tanyaplibersek.com/media/speeches/tanya-plibersek-speech-to-the-afr-higher-education-conference-sydney-monday-16-august-2021/">big questions</a>”.</p>
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<p>“There are big questions that need to be answered about how higher education is structured and funded – so that it can keep offering affordable, high-quality teaching and produce world-class research, and so that knowledge translates to prosperity and jobs. We must look at the whole system rather than tinkering around the edges if we want to make sure we have the educated workforce necessary to drive economic growth. Australia’s future prosperity depends on it.”</p>
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<h2>Participation is still growing</h2>
<p>These questions emerge as Australia absorbs its transition over the past half century from elite higher education (less than 16% participation) to <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED091983">mass participation</a> (16%-50%). </p>
<p>Australia and other wealthy countries are now moving towards <a href="http://escholarship.org/uc/item/96p3s213">universal access to higher education</a> (more than 50% participation). The UK government, for example, <a href="https://www.ahua.ac.uk/taking-the-long-view-on-student-number-control/">removed controls on student numbers</a> in England from 2015. Australia <a href="https://theconversation.com/demand-driven-funding-for-universities-is-frozen-what-does-this-mean-and-should-the-policy-be-restored-116060">lifted caps on funded enrolments</a> from 2012 to 2017.</p>
<p>No government in Australia is likely to reinstate demand-driven funded student places soon. However, enrolments are likely to expand to accommodate growing numbers of school leavers and increased social, occupational and economic aspirations to undertake higher education.</p>
<p>Public universities currently offer <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/higher-education-statistics/resources/2020-section-4-all-student-load">82% of higher education</a>, TAFE and other vocational colleges 10%, non-university higher education institutions 6% and private universities 2%. Whether this is the ideal balance will presumably be one of the “big questions” for the accord to consider.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/wholl-teach-all-the-students-promised-extra-tafe-places-4-steps-to-end-staff-shortages-175523">Who'll teach all the students promised extra TAFE places? 4 steps to end staff shortages</a>
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<h2>Education and work</h2>
<p>The expansion of higher education has been fuelled by <a href="https://theconversation.com/does-government-spending-on-education-promote-economic-growth-60229">human capital theory</a>, the idea that education increases productivity and, in turn, incomes. Nonetheless, concerns persist that Australia has too many graduates who are not well matched to their jobs and still less to future employers’ needs.</p>
<p>This is due in part to employers’ substantial cuts in their investment in their employees’ induction and training since the 1990s in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-021-00742-3">Australia</a>, <a href="http://www.conferenceboard.ca/e-library/abstract.aspx?did=7542">Canada</a>, the <a href="http://www.llakes.ac.uk/research-papers">UK</a> and the <a href="http://heldrichcenter.org/sites/default/files/products/uploads/Dimension_of_Labor_Market_Alignment.pdf">USA</a>.</p>
<p>The gaps in the mythical conveyor belt from education to work have been one cause of students’ disenchantment, leading to the insistence by them, employers and governments that universities produce “job-ready graduates”.</p>
<p>Further narrowing the supply of graduates to meet predicted labour force needs does not improve the match between education and work. Apart from anything else, there’s the <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000374435">changing demand and structuring of jobs in the labour market</a> to consider. But it would be good to develop a more sophisticated understanding and management of the relations between higher education and work.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pandemic-widens-gap-between-government-and-australians-view-of-education-148991">Pandemic widens gap between government and Australians' view of education</a>
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<h2>Research and innovation</h2>
<p>Universities have also benefited from the idea of a linear relation between research, experimental development, innovation and economic development. And, again, it has narrowed and distorted university research’s priorities, funding and management. The relations between research and innovation are far more complex and uncertain than the linear model assumes. </p>
<p>And just as some argue that Australia relies too heavily on its comprehensive teaching and research universities for higher education participation, so it relies too heavily on these universities for applied research and development. </p>
<p>Governments and others should stop pressuring universities to fill gaps in innovation. Australia already has many of the elements of a sophisticated innovation ecosystem. They need more careful tending and stronger support.</p>
<h2>The rise of international education</h2>
<p>Australian universities were at first reluctant to expand international enrolments when they were allowed and then required to charge these students full fees, another Hawke government decision. However, these enrolments had started to increase strongly by the time Labor lost office in 1996. </p>
<p>Now, of course, international education is such a success that it is deeply enmeshed in and supports universities’ core activities, especially <a href="https://andrewnorton.net.au/2020/06/04/why-did-universities-become-reliant-on-international-students-part-3-the-rise-of-research-project-grants/">research</a>. </p>
<p>Universities, their staff and their students managed shocks magnificently during the pandemic. The dependence on international students doesn’t make universities as vulnerable as some feared before COVID, but it is still a serious weakness.</p>
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<h2>How the other half thinks</h2>
<p>Australia performs relatively well in higher education equity research, policy and implementation. There is also a relatively good understanding of how economic, social and educational inequalities shape inequality in higher education, and how higher education may ameliorate it. </p>
<p>Like many other countries, Australia builds higher education policy on redressing the disadvantages of under-represented groups. But perhaps a different type of inequity remains unaddressed. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334770033_Education_and_the_geography_of_Brexit">Brexit</a> and <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2016/11/18/educational-rift-in-2016-election/">Trumpism</a> have shown around 30% of adults are deeply alienated from the pursuit of rational inquiry from evidence. </p>
<p>A similarly sizeable body of Australians seems to be alienated from higher education and its values. </p>
<p>Many unionists and employers constructed competency-based training from the 1990s to “teacher proof” vocational education. It may be worth considering how higher education may serve those who are alienated or at least disengaged from further education.</p>
<h2>And what about funding?</h2>
<p>HECS income-contingent loans, an Australian policy innovation introduced by the Hawke government, have partly financed the transitions from elite to mass higher education and towards universal access. While universities are as keen for increased funding as governments are to cut it, there is no crisis in Australian higher education financing. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-had-record-job-losses-but-not-as-many-as-feared-and-the-worst-may-be-over-176883">Universities had record job losses, but not as many as feared – and the worst may be over</a>
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<p>But tensions about financing will increase as participation increases. A major advance may be more structural than financial, by having most increases in higher education enrolments in TAFE institutes. These already offer high-quality baccalaureates and have campuses across the country.</p>
<h2>Decision-making and employment structures</h2>
<p>The transition to mass higher education was governed by the managerialism and later the <a href="https://srheblog.com/2019/01/21/metrics-in-higher-education-technologies-and-subjectivities/">metricisation</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13562517.2020.1748811">datafication</a> of higher education so despised by academics.</p>
<p>Clearly, there is scope for improving government direction and oversight of higher education, and for improving universities’ own decision-making. There are legitimately different views on the balance between collegial and managerial governance of universities. However, examples of universities’ <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-what-the-government-and-universities-can-do-about-the-crisis-of-insecure-academic-work-183345">wage theft</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/wage-theft-and-casual-work-are-built-into-university-business-models-147555">exploitative employment practices</a> reflect problems with many universities’ management.</p>
<p>Australian universities have a very high reliance on casual employment, even more so than in many <a href="https://theconversation.com/self-employment-and-casual-work-arent-increasing-but-so-many-jobs-are-insecure-whats-going-on-100668">other areas of the economy</a>. Indeed, the growth of insecure alongside secure employment in universities and colleges reflects a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/political-science-research-and-methods/article/dualization-stratification-liberalization-or-what-an-attempt-to-clarify-the-conceptual-underpinnings-of-the-dualization-debate/C20383B2A41D6C45EA3D32234174256D">dualisation</a> of employment protections in many OECD countries, as part of a general liberalisation of employment regulation.</p>
<p>This suggests the need for more comprehensive protections against insecure employment throughout the economy.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-what-the-government-and-universities-can-do-about-the-crisis-of-insecure-academic-work-183345">Here's what the government and universities can do about the crisis of insecure academic work</a>
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<h2>An early test of government</h2>
<p>Many other substantial issues confront Australian higher education. It is hard to see the accord addressing all of these. </p>
<p>An early indication of the new minister and government’s governing style will be the extent to which the most important issues to be addressed are identified just within government, in private consultations with privileged “stakeholders”, or openly with students, staff and the public.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183810/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gavin Moodie has received various research grants from bodies funded by the Australian and state governments, and was employed by Australian universities for 35 years. He is currently employed by the University of Toronto and is a co investigator on a grant funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.</span></em></p>Higher education didn’t feature heavily in the election campaign, yet the sector has high expectations of the new government. The key is the idea of an accord and the change in approach it implies.Gavin Moodie, Adjunct Professor, Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education, OISE, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1719522021-11-29T19:11:21Z2021-11-29T19:11:21Z2 out of 3 members of university governing bodies have no professional expertise in the sector. There’s the making of a crisis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433872/original/file-20211125-21-f8ifml.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=637%2C0%2C2763%2C1835&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>To say Australian universities are in crisis is to state the obvious. A <a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-lost-6-of-their-revenue-in-2020-and-the-next-2-years-are-looking-worse-166749">common narrative</a> suggests the most immediate cause of the current crisis is “reduced international student revenue and income from investments, such as dividends” during the pandemic. Some correlation is undeniable. However, many <a href="https://tribunemag.co.uk/2020/10/how-neoliberal-reforms-led-to-the-student-covid-crisis">commentators have noted</a> that the problems besetting our universities transcend financial issues alone and predate the pandemic. </p>
<p>The root causes, we suggest, lie in radical changes in how Australian universities are governed. The shift toward a quasi-corporate model of governance included a significant change in the composition of universities’ governing bodies.</p>
<p>In the past, a majority of their members had a background in the tertiary education sector. Today barely a third do, our research for <a href="https://publicuniversities.org">Academics for Public Universities</a> has found. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.uts.edu.au/research-and-teaching/our-research/centre-business-and-social-innovation/news/rethinking-australian-higher-education">Some commentators</a> see a more corporate form of university governance as both inevitable and necessary. We believe it is neither. The increasing detachment of university governance from the university community itself has serious consequences. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-are-not-corporations-600-australian-academics-call-for-change-to-uni-governance-structures-143254">'Universities are not corporations': 600 Australian academics call for change to uni governance structures</a>
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<h2>COVID brought crises to a head</h2>
<p>A <a href="https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/theausinstitute/pages/3830/attachments/original/1631479548/An_Avoidable_Catastrophe_FINAL.pdf?1631479548">recent report</a> by The Australia Institute calculated more than 40,000 university jobs were lost in the year to May 2021. That equates to 20% of the total pre-pandemic university workforce, a rate <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/employment-and-unemployment/labour-force-australia/latest-release">two to three times greater</a> than overall pandemic job losses in Australia. The number also exceeds the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-07-11/fact-check-are-there-54000-jobs-in-thermal-coal-mining/11198150">jobs that would be lost</a> in total if all thermal coal mining in Australia were to end.</p>
<p>The casualisation of the academic workforce has also reached <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-17/university-casual-workforce-redundancies-dirty-secret/12462030">staggering proportions</a>. The related issues of <a href="https://theconversation.com/wage-theft-and-casual-work-are-built-into-university-business-models-147555">wage theft</a> and <a href="https://www.icac.sa.gov.au/media-release/university-integrity-survey-2020">staff bullying</a> have regularly made the news.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/wage-theft-and-casual-work-are-built-into-university-business-models-147555">Wage theft and casual work are built into university business models</a>
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<p>Courses are being <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-07-16/uwa-social-sciences-cuts-surprise-students-and-staff/100294516">increasingly cut</a>. At the same time the costs to students of certain degrees are increasing. </p>
<p>Even before COVID, students were increasingly being diverted to “self-directed” online modules. This trend reduces direct contact time with lecturers and tutors. It’s a source of the very clear student dissatisfaction and distress <a href="https://www.teqsa.gov.au/latest-news/articles/new-teqsa-report-details-student-experiences-switch-online-learning">reported</a> by the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency. </p>
<p>There are also concerns about the decline of academic freedom. These led to the <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/229131">French review</a> recommendation of a <a href="https://www.dese.gov.au/higher-education-reviews-and-consultations/independent-review-adoption-model-code-freedom-speech-and-academic-freedom">model code</a> for universities. A relevant concern here relates to <a href="https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/life/education/2021/11/27/academy-silences/163793160012955#mtr">dissenting academic members of universities’ governing bodies</a>. </p>
<p>Who has presided over this growing list of problems and predicaments?</p>
<h2>Who governs our public universities?</h2>
<p>At present, bodies commonly named councils (or senates in fewer cases, with one called a board of trustees) govern Australian public universities. Decision-making power ultimately rests with them.</p>
<p>As a result of a <a href="https://theconversation.com/governing-universities-tertiary-experience-no-longer-required-145439">series of changes over the past few decades</a>, these governing bodies are no longer comprised of a majority of academics and students. Instead, they have a majority of external members who are neither enrolled as students nor employed by the university. The governing bodies themselves elect many of these members.</p>
<p>Academics for Public Universities reviewed the composition and expertise (as advertised on university websites) of the governing bodies of all 37 Australian public universities. Of a total of 564 members, only 33% are elected from within the institutions they govern. </p>
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<p>Moreover, only 31.5% have any expertise working in the tertiary sector, while 7.5% are student representatives. The other 61% have professional expertise in fields other than tertiary education. And 33% come from the broader corporate/private/finance/industry sector. </p>
<p>As a result, individual members of universities’ governing bodies inject a great level of belief, dedication and financial and commercial skills, but, by definition, limited professional expertise in tertiary education.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/governing-universities-tertiary-experience-no-longer-required-145439">Governing universities: tertiary experience no longer required</a>
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</em>
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<hr>
<h2>It’s not even proper corporate governance</h2>
<p>Ironically, this is a radical departure from corporate governance standards. Our review looked at large registered companies, such as Rio Tinto, Telstra and CSL, whose directors often sit on university councils. Their boards have 73%, 72% and 78% respectively of members with experience in the sectors they operate in.</p>
<p>Australian university governance also represents an anomaly internationally. A majority of academics and student representatives still govern most European universities, according to their charters. </p>
<p>For example, at <a href="https://governance.admin.ox.ac.uk/council/members-council">Oxford</a>, frequently ranked the best university in the world, 77% of governing members have experience in the university sector. And 73% have an explicit academic background. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Academic procession at Oxford University" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433870/original/file-20211125-23-d0lpv6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433870/original/file-20211125-23-d0lpv6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433870/original/file-20211125-23-d0lpv6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433870/original/file-20211125-23-d0lpv6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433870/original/file-20211125-23-d0lpv6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433870/original/file-20211125-23-d0lpv6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/433870/original/file-20211125-23-d0lpv6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Oxford University has a traditional and much more representative governance model, which continues to serve it well.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>University managers often <a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-are-not-corporations-600-australian-academics-call-for-change-to-uni-governance-structures-143254#comment_2290733">act as if they are running commercial corporations</a>. It is time to acknowledge this is both inaccurate and inappropriate, as the South Australian Ombudsman <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/release-salary-information-ombudsman-tells-adelaide">recently found</a>. </p>
<p>University governing bodies are <a href="https://theconversation.com/unis-are-run-like-corporations-but-their-leaders-are-less-accountable-heres-an-easy-way-to-fix-that-147194">not directly accountable</a> to an equivalent of “shareholders” through an annual general meeting. They are also not truly <a href="https://campusmorningmail.com.au/news/parliament-shrinks-qut-council-not-all-mps-approve/">accountable to the academic communities</a> they lead or to the broader communities they serve. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/unis-are-run-like-corporations-but-their-leaders-are-less-accountable-heres-an-easy-way-to-fix-that-147194">Unis are run like corporations but their leaders are less accountable. Here's an easy way to fix that</a>
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<p>For over two decades now, Australian universities have increasingly been run like businesses by a majority of <a href="http://honisoit.com/2021/11/federation-uni-offers-all-staff-redundancies-replaces-deans-with-ceos/">business-minded experts</a>. The problems laid bare by the COVID-19 crisis seem to point to an abysmal failure of such an approach. </p>
<p>As a recent <a href="https://greens.org.au/campaigns/uni-future">discussion paper</a> released by Greens Senator Mehreen Faruqi argues: “Research and teaching should be governed by public interest and free intellectual inquiry, not the demands and pursuits of corporations” – or a commercial corporate mindset. Unless academic expertise and values return to the centre of a university’s governance structure, we fear not only will such an aspiration not be met, but also the sector-wide crisis unleashed by COVID-19 will be just one of many.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/171952/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alessandro Pelizzon is affiliated with Academics for Public Universities and is an elected academic member of Council at Southern Cross University.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Lucas is affiliated with Better University Governance (UOW) and Academics for Public Universities.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fran Baum receives grants from the ARC, NHMRCt and the Flinders Foundation. She is the co-Chair of the Global Steering Council of the People's Health Movement, a life member of the Public Health Association of Australia and a Fellow of the AAHMS, ASSA, AHPA. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Justin O'Connor receives funding from the Australia Research Council. He is a member of Academics for Public Universities (APU)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Oliver Vodeb is affiliated with Academics for Public Universities. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Tregear is affiliated with Academics for Public Universities. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Renaud Joannes-Boyau is affiliated with the group Academics for Public Universities.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Hil is a member of The Greens; coordinator of Critical Conversations (NFP discussion forum); volunteer with Mullumbimby Neighbourhood Centre; co-leader of research circle, Resilient Byron; member of Academies for the Public University.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Siobhan Irving is affiliated with Academics for Public Universities and the National Tertiary Education Union. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen Lake is a member of Academics for Public Universities and of the National Tertiary Education Union. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Noble and James Guthrie do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Universities supposedly have adopted a more corporate approach – but most corporate board members have expertise in the area their company operates in and are more accountable to shareholders.Alessandro Pelizzon, Senior Lecturer, School of Law and Justice, Southern Cross UniversityAdam Lucas, Senior Lecturer, Science and Technology Studies, University of WollongongDavid Noble, Associate Dean (Education), Southern Cross UniversityFran Baum, Matthew Flinders Distinguished Professor, Foundation Director, Southgate Institute for Health, Society & Equity, Flinders UniversityJames Guthrie, Distinguished Professor of Accounting, Macquarie UniversityJustin O'Connor, Professor of Cultural Economy, University of South AustraliaOliver Vodeb, Senior Lecturer in Design, RMIT UniversityPeter Tregear, Principal Fellow, The University of MelbourneRenaud Joannes-Boyau, Associate Professor, Southern Cross UniversityRichard Hil, Adjunct Associate Professor, School of Human Serivces and Social Work, Griffith UniversitySiobhan Irving, Sessional Academic, School of Social Sciences, Macquarie UniversityStephen Lake, PhD Candidate, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1650722021-07-29T19:58:59Z2021-07-29T19:58:59ZShould the University of Melbourne host the Menzies Institute? The answer hinges on academic freedom<p>The University of Melbourne will open the <a href="https://www.robertmenziesinstitute.org.au/">Robert Menzies Institute</a>, in honour of Australia’s <a href="https://primeministers.moadoph.gov.au/prime-ministers/robert-menzies">longest-serving prime minister</a>, in September this year. The presence of board members with close ties to the Liberal Party and the Menzies Research Centre has prompted protests from some <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/students-academics-battle-opening-of-liberal-backed-institute-at-melbourne-uni-20210721-p58bna.html">students</a> and <a href="https://stopmenziesinstitute.wordpress.com/open-letter-to-stop-the-robert-menzies-institute/">academics</a>. They question the appropriateness of the university hosting a platform, set up with A$7 million in federal government funding, that lauds Menzies’ achievements but overlooks negative aspects of his legacy.</p>
<p>The institute is a partnership between the university and the Menzies Research Centre, a <a href="https://www.menziesrc.org/about-the-mrc">self-described</a> “think-tank that champions Liberal principles” that “is affiliated with the Liberal Party of Australia”. The institute’s <a href="https://www.robertmenziesinstitute.org.au/board">board</a> includes: Sky News commentator Peta Credlin, a former chief of staff to PM Tony Abbott; Geoffrey Hone, chair of the right-wing think-tank, the Institute of Public Affairs; and David Kemp, a former Howard government cabinet minister. A former chair of Qantas and a University of Melbourne pro vice-chancellor and dean also sit on the board.</p>
<p>Debates over the legacy of a former head of government and the governance of the institute are legitimate. However, would these concerns justify the exclusion of the institute from the university?</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-and-government-need-to-rethink-their-relationship-with-each-other-before-its-too-late-139963">Universities and government need to rethink their relationship with each other before it's too late</a>
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<h2>Institutes named after PMs aren’t unusual</h2>
<p>Australia has other institutes that honour former prime ministers. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.whitlam.org/about">Whitlam Institute</a> at Western Sydney University was <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00048623.2005.10755290">established</a> in 2000 under an agreement between the university and <a href="https://primeministers.moadoph.gov.au/prime-ministers/gough-whitlam">Gough Whitlam</a> himself. Most of its funding has come from the university. The institute provides access to books and materials donated by its namesake, and hosts public lectures and events.</p>
<p>At Curtin University in Western Australia, the <a href="https://businesslaw.curtin.edu.au/our-research/centres-and-institutes/jcipp/">John Curtin Institute of Public Policy</a> was established in 2004 for research, teaching and public engagement on public policy issues. It is named after Australia’s <a href="https://primeministers.moadoph.gov.au/prime-ministers/john-curtin">14th prime minister</a>, as is the <a href="https://about.curtin.edu.au/history-facts/john-curtin/">university</a>. </p>
<p>The University of South Australia hosts the <a href="https://www.library.unisa.edu.au/about-the-library/campus-libraries/bob-hawke-prime-ministerial-library/">Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Library</a>. It provides access to research materials and hosts public events and presentations.</p>
<p>In other countries, it’s normal to honour former heads of government in this way. In the United States, <a href="https://www.archives.gov/presidential-libraries">presidential libraries</a> preserve historical materials and support research. Others set up their own, such as the <a href="https://institute.global/">Tony Blair Institute for Global Change</a>. </p>
<p>As for the Menzies Institute, there are reasons why it might logically be located at the University of Melbourne. Menzies studied law there. After retiring from parliament he became its chancellor (1967-1972).</p>
<p>Being named after a former prime minister, then, does not appear to be a decisive negative against the institute.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Front of University of Melbourne Old Quad building" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413499/original/file-20210728-25-18ym8i3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413499/original/file-20210728-25-18ym8i3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413499/original/file-20210728-25-18ym8i3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413499/original/file-20210728-25-18ym8i3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413499/original/file-20210728-25-18ym8i3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413499/original/file-20210728-25-18ym8i3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413499/original/file-20210728-25-18ym8i3.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The Old Quad building, where Robert Menzies studied law at the University of Melbourne, will house the institute named after him.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cussonia_Court_University_of_Melbourne_2018.jpg">Gracchus250/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Governance and academic freedom</h2>
<p>A key issue in locating an institute at a university is whether or not it preserves academic freedom. When industry and political figures from outside academia enter into partnerships with universities, they must do so in a manner that preserves academic freedom, regardless of political viewpoints.</p>
<p>This was the key point of dispute over proposals to establish <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/ramsay-centre-signs-final-university-to-western-civilisation-course-20200224-p543mb.html">programs in Western Civilisation</a>, funded by the <a href="https://www.ramsaycentre.org/about-us/">Ramsay Centre</a>, in Australian universities. Its board includes former Liberal prime ministers John Howard as chair and Tony Abbott. </p>
<p>The Australian National University <a href="https://theconversation.com/anu-stood-up-for-academic-freedom-in-rejecting-western-civilisation-degree-99189">rejected</a> such a program on the ground that it infringed academic freedom. The centre later established programs at <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2019/08/13/university-queensland-signs-controversial-50-million-agreement-fund-undergraduate">other Australian universities</a>, under <a href="https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/education/ramsay-centre-signs-50m-deal-with-uq-20190807-p52epd">conditions</a> that appeared to preserve academic freedom.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/anu-stood-up-for-academic-freedom-in-rejecting-western-civilisation-degree-99189">ANU stood up for academic freedom in rejecting Western Civilisation degree</a>
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<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/book-review-open-minds-explores-how-academic-freedom-and-the-public-university-are-at-risk-156213">Academic freedom</a> is a robust protection for activities of academics and students that are central to the mission of the university – the creation and dissemination of knowledge. These activities include:</p>
<ul>
<li>lecturing and choice of course content</li>
<li>deciding what research to pursue</li>
<li>publishing research findings</li>
<li>classroom discussions and academic debates. </li>
</ul>
<p>In turn, those whose activities are protected have responsibilities that include:</p>
<ul>
<li>providing evidence to back up claims</li>
<li>conducting research with integrity using recognised and robust methods</li>
<li>not engaging in unlawful or discriminatory conduct.</li>
</ul>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/book-review-open-minds-explores-how-academic-freedom-and-the-public-university-are-at-risk-156213">Book review: Open Minds explores how academic freedom and the public university are at risk</a>
</strong>
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</p>
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<h2>What does this mean for the Menzies Institute?</h2>
<p>In practice, the principles of academic freedom will mean any Menzies Institute board members should have no structural means of determining the content of curriculums and research priorities – or publication of findings – of any academics or students at the university. </p>
<p>Details of the contract between the centre and the university are not public. But the <a href="https://www.robertmenziesinstitute.org.au/">institute’s website</a> says it will curate papers, books and other artefacts in its collection. This represents no threat to academic freedom. In fact, it’s likely to improve access to these archival records. </p>
<p>The institute wants to create a hub for researchers. The key question here is whether it will do so in a manner that preserves academic freedom. With several academic staff members on the board, it appears the governance arrangements recognise this.</p>
<p>The institute also intends to host school visits and “<a href="https://www.robertmenziesinstitute.org.au/">develop curricula</a>”. If that includes university curriculums, then of course while board members could make suggestions, they must not be given the ability to determine, or develop, the curriculum. Academic freedom demands that the academics responsible for learning and teaching decide all the detail on curriculum content, readings, questions, methods and approaches.</p>
<p>Finally, the institute wishes to organise public lectures and exhibitions, and host visiting professors. Again, these activities must be subject to the protections of academic freedom.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-just-blame-the-libs-for-treating-universities-harshly-labors-1980s-policies-ushered-in-government-interference-163880">Don't just blame the Libs for treating universities harshly. Labor's 1980s policies ushered in government interference</a>
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<h2>Funding can be a source of pressure</h2>
<p>Funding is one obvious way in which pressure can be brought to bear on academic freedom. Some funding for the institute is coming from the University of Melbourne and the Menzies Research Centre, but its most generous benefactor is the federal Coalition government, which has provided A$7 million. No other comparable institute has received such a large sum. </p>
<p>In 2012, the Whitlam Institute received <a href="https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/newscentre/news_centre/story_archive/2012/uws_and_whitlam_institute_welcome_$7_million_in_federal_funding_to_restore_historic_female_orphan_school">$7 million</a> from the then federal Labor government. However, this funding was primarily for a historic building restoration, which included providing a permanent home for the institute 12 years after its founding.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="front of historic brick building" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413508/original/file-20210728-13-c046wq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/413508/original/file-20210728-13-c046wq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413508/original/file-20210728-13-c046wq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413508/original/file-20210728-13-c046wq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=482&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413508/original/file-20210728-13-c046wq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413508/original/file-20210728-13-c046wq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/413508/original/file-20210728-13-c046wq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=605&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The historic Female Orphan School, which now houses the Whitlam Institute, in 2012 shortly before the federal government funded its restoration.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Female_Orphan_School_UWS_Parramatta.jpg">Gareth Edwards/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>The Morrison government’s generosity seems slightly odd, given its reluctance to help a sector <a href="https://theconversation.com/which-universities-are-best-placed-financially-to-weather-covid-154079">struggling with the loss of international student fee revenue</a>. In 2020 it <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/04/australian-universities-angry-at-final-twist-of-the-knife-excluding-them-from-jobkeeper">amended JobKeeper three times</a> to ensure public universities were unable to claim it. The Job-Ready Graduates Package <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-government-is-making-job-ready-degrees-cheaper-for-students-but-cutting-funding-to-the-same-courses-141280">cut total funding</a> for teaching in universities. <a href="https://theconversation.com/7-6-billion-and-11-of-researchers-our-estimate-of-how-much-australian-university-research-stands-to-lose-by-2024-146672">Research is losing the cross-subsidy</a> from teaching revenue.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/big-spending-recovery-budget-leaves-universities-out-in-the-cold-160439">Big-spending 'recovery budget' leaves universities out in the cold</a>
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<p>The federal government has often been highly critical of universities. Critics would regard its institute funding as a ploy to influence research and engagement in a way that favours its preferred points of view. This is a reasonable suspicion, and the university needs to be alive to it.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, government funding is not a ground for rejecting the institute as long as it is “hands-off” and doesn’t require the institute or the university to violate academic freedom to receive it.</p>
<p>Finally, there is much room in Australian political discourse for a debate over the legacy of Robert Menzies. His time as prime minister (1939-41, 1949-66) spanned the second World War, the Cold War, the Vietnam war, the failed attempt to ban the Communist Party, and the civil rights movement. While the institute honours Menzies’ achievements, his critics point to his <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhvmsV9bnxQ">support for the White Australia policy</a>, his <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-03-24/maralinga-nuclear-tests-ground-zero-lesser-known-history/11882608">agreement</a> to <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=CHAMBER;id=chamber/hansardr/2003-03-25/0030;query=Id:%22chamber/hansardr/2003-03-25/0000%22#:%7E:text=In%201954%2C%20at%20the%20height,%2C%20Tims%2C%20Rats%20and%20Vixen.">test nuclear weapons</a> with no regard for Indigenous owners or their Country, and his refusal to <a href="https://www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/australias-prime-ministers/robert-menzies/during-office">take a position against apartheid</a>. </p>
<p>Universities are the right place for rigorous debates about this legacy. The key issue is whether the Menzies Institute’s funding and governance, which underpin the public debates it wishes to engage in, respect or infringe academic freedom. Time will tell.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165072/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katharine Gelber has received funding from the Australian Research Council, the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, and Facebook.</span></em></p>Facing protests by students and academics over its Liberal Party links and generous funding by the Morrison government, the centre’s most important test will be whether it respects academic freedom.Katharine Gelber, Professor of Politics and Public Policy, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1603462021-06-02T20:05:43Z2021-06-02T20:05:43ZUniversities’ relevance hinges on academic freedom<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403925/original/file-20210602-17-16yht5e.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C0%2C3190%2C2400&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/school-morning-737683123">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Academic freedom is widely championed as the foundation of a <a href="https://www.zedbooks.net/shop/book/the-good-university/">good university</a>. It is seen as vital in speaking “truth to power” – to borrow from influential political philosopher <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arendt/">Hannah Arendt</a> – and in ensuring universities are oriented towards the common good, not select elite interests. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403911/original/file-20210602-19-yb02si.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="cover of Australian Universities' Review" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403911/original/file-20210602-19-yb02si.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403911/original/file-20210602-19-yb02si.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=852&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403911/original/file-20210602-19-yb02si.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=852&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403911/original/file-20210602-19-yb02si.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=852&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403911/original/file-20210602-19-yb02si.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1071&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403911/original/file-20210602-19-yb02si.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1071&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403911/original/file-20210602-19-yb02si.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1071&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The Australian Universities’ Review special issue, Academic Freedom’s Precarious Future.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.aur.org.au/current/ebook">Australian Universities' Review</a></span>
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<p>Academic freedom also ensures universities can lead research, education and public debates that are responsive to today’s global challenges and crises, ensuring their relevance in a <a href="https://www.academia.edu/45596988/Reimagining_global_citizenship_education_for_a_volatile_uncertain_complex_and_ambiguous_VUCA_world_2021_">volatile</a> and complex world. In this way, universities help prepare graduates not simply for a career but also for a meaningful life in our “<a href="http://www.aur.org.au/article/Beyond-the-usual-debates%3A-Creating-the-conditions-for-academic-freedom-to-flourish-%28AUR-63-01%29-22706">uncertain and unequal world</a>”.</p>
<p>The latest special issue of Australian Universities’ Review is devoted to <a href="http://www.aur.org.au/current/ebook">Academic Freedom’s Precarious Future</a>. Contributing authors identify how the pressures on universities in Australia and overseas are hindering academic freedom. The consequences are dire and broad-ranging. These trends raises questions about just who, and what interests, universities are intended to serve. </p>
<p>Under this shadow, this special issue asks: what are the <a href="http://www.aur.org.au/article/Beyond-the-usual-debates%3A-Creating-the-conditions-for-academic-freedom-to-flourish-%28AUR-63-01%29-22706">conditions in which academic freedom can flourish</a>? </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-governments-funding-changes-are-meddling-with-the-purpose-of-universities-141133">The government's funding changes are meddling with the purpose of universities</a>
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<h2>Entangled with corporate and political interests</h2>
<p>Since their foundation in the 19th and early 20th centuries in Australia, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00131946.2019.1666717">universities have been tied</a> to the political concerns of the settler colonial nation state and the economic interests of global capitalism. Settler colonial power has always ensured its interests are <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/26717/">woven into the fabric of universities</a> (alongside other institutions). The rise of corporate and neoliberal agendas over recent decades has reinforced these dynamics. </p>
<p>Universities have become further entangled with vested interests, including the private sector and philanthro-capital, such as the controversial <a href="https://theconversation.com/western-civilisation-history-teaching-has-moved-on-and-so-should-those-who-champion-it-97697">Ramsay Centre for Western Civilisation</a>. As <a href="http://www.aur.org.au/article/Corporate-power-and-academic-freedom-%28AUR-63-01%29-22711">Andrew Bonnell</a> and <a href="http://www.aur.org.au/article/Freedom-in-the-university-fiefdom-%28AUR-63-01%29-22709">Richard Hil</a> set out in this special issue, these developments enable corporate and <a href="https://www.crikey.com.au/2021/03/17/tudge-introduces-uni-free-speech-laws-a-throwback-to-a-forgotten-culture-war/">political</a> influence across research, curriculum and the very infrastructure of university campuses. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/anu-stood-up-for-academic-freedom-in-rejecting-western-civilisation-degree-99189">ANU stood up for academic freedom in rejecting Western Civilisation degree</a>
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<p>The spread of neoliberal managerialism has also created a workplace culture of hyper-surveillance. This includes rigid performance appraisals, the use-value of research assessed via “impact” criteria and other metrics, as well as student evaluations that can affect educators’ careers. This bears down upon university staff and <a href="http://www.aur.org.au/article/Freedom-in-the-university-fiefdom-%28AUR-63-01%29-22709">crushes academic freedom</a>. </p>
<p>Such practices have emerged alongside what <a href="http://www.aur.org.au/article/Precarious-work-and-funding-make-academic-freedom-precarious-%28AUR-63-01%29-22710">Jeannie Rea</a> describes as increasingly precarious work and funding. Academics are encouraged to compete with – rather than care for – one another. This erodes collegiality and collective organising.</p>
<p>These workplace conditions and culture are at odds with the pursuit of academic freedom. Yet rather than turning the spotlight on the structural forces that curtail it, conservative interests frequently hijack debates about academic freedom. This distracts attention from the very real freedoms that are under threat, as <a href="http://www.aur.org.au/article/What-crisis-of-academic-freedom%3F-Australian-universities-after-French-%28AUR-63-01%29-22712">Rob Watts</a> argues.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-a-fake-free-speech-crisis-could-imperil-academic-freedom-144272">How a fake 'free speech crisis' could imperil academic freedom</a>
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<h2>A crucial issue in times of crisis</h2>
<p><a href="https://antipodeonline.org/2021/02/01/the-pangolin-and-the-coal-mine/">Crisis is now all too familiar</a>, threatening ecologies, human life and livelihoods. We are grappling with the climate emergency, the COVID-19 pandemic, structural racism, sexual violence and more. These are all redefining our relations with one another, including both the human and non-human world. </p>
<p>In the midst of such crises, contributors to this <a href="http://www.aur.org.au/current/contents">special issue</a> consider the purpose and responsibilities of universities, as well as the rights and interests they might support. The defence of academic freedom is identified as being vital to, and intertwined with, teaching, research, advocacy and service that are responsive to the conditions of our volatile world. </p>
<p>Academic freedom can provide the mandate for universities – their staff, students and graduates – to move through the world with purpose, care, and even love. This includes acting on the responsibilities that come with recognising that universities are part of, and in relationship with, diverse ecologies, people and the <a href="https://indigenousx.com.au/chelsea-bond-the-irony-of-the-aboriginal-academic/">unceded territories</a> on which they sit.</p>
<h2>Creating the conditions for academic freedom</h2>
<p><a href="http://www.aur.org.au/article/Precarious-work-and-funding-make-academic-freedom-precarious-%28AUR-63-01%29-22710">Jeannie Rea</a> describes the vital work of <a href="https://www.scholarsatrisk.org/">Scholars at Risk</a> in defending academic freedom. They include those who speak out against military, religious and state regimes, often jeopardising their lives to do so. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.aur.org.au/article/A-self-selection-mechanism-for-appointed-external-members-of-WA-University-Councils-%28AUR-63-01%29-22708">Gerd E. Schroder-Turk</a> provides the compelling case for good governance. His essay includes a critique of the ways university councils are able to self-select external members. As a result, universities are increasingly governed by those with little expertise in teaching and research. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/governing-universities-tertiary-experience-no-longer-required-145439">Governing universities: tertiary experience no longer required</a>
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<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403927/original/file-20210602-27-1mefnek.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403927/original/file-20210602-27-1mefnek.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/403927/original/file-20210602-27-1mefnek.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403927/original/file-20210602-27-1mefnek.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403927/original/file-20210602-27-1mefnek.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403927/original/file-20210602-27-1mefnek.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403927/original/file-20210602-27-1mefnek.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/403927/original/file-20210602-27-1mefnek.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=731&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Peter Greste is among the contributors to the special issue.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joel Carrett/AAP</span></span>
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<p><a href="http://www.aur.org.au/article/Slippery-beasts%3A-Why-academic-freedom-and-media-freedom-are-so-difficult-to-protect-%28AUR-63-01%29-22707">Peter Greste and Fred D’Agostino</a> differentiate academic freedom from broader freedom of speech debates. They then consider some of the responsibilities that might underpin academic freedom. </p>
<p>In the afterword to this special issue, Canadian scholar <a href="http://www.aur.org.au/article/Beyond-the-usual-debates%3A-Creating-the-conditions-for-academic-freedom-to-flourish-%28AUR-63-01%29-22706">Sharon Stein</a> (and member of the <a href="https://decolonialfutures.net/">Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures</a> collective) sets out the conditions in which academic freedom may flourish. This includes valuing diverse knowledges, practising intellectual humility and embracing difficult conversations. It also includes acknowledging our interdependence with one other, and with the non-human world. </p>
<p>The hope is this special issue moves academics, policymakers and diverse publics towards engagement with these ideas, leading to outcomes that support the conditions needed for academic freedom to flourish. This will be vital if universities are to have purpose and a meaningful place in facing the uncertainties of our lifetime. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/book-review-open-minds-explores-how-academic-freedom-and-the-public-university-are-at-risk-156213">Book review: Open Minds explores how academic freedom and the public university are at risk</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/160346/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kristen Lyons is a member of the Australian Greens, and senior research fellow with The Oakland Institute. </span></em></p>In a volatile and uncertain world, academic freedom is the foundation of universities’ capacity to be responsive to all of the challenges we face today.Kristen Lyons, Professor Environment and Development Sociology, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1508292020-12-01T19:07:37Z2020-12-01T19:07:37ZHow Australian vice-chancellors’ pay came to average $1 million and why it’s a problem<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/371920/original/file-20201130-21-1aly4vd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1581%2C0%2C6060%2C4032&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The University of Sydney paid its vice-chancellor $1,627,500 last year, more than any other Australian public university VC received.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sydney-australia-7-aug-2017-view-720611131">EQRoy/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia and the UK experience regular annual outrage over vice-chancellors’ pay. This is unsurprising – in Australia their average pay at the 37 public universities topped <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/average-australian-v-cs-pay-smashes-through-a1-million-barrier">A$1 million</a> in 2019. Those at prestigious Group of Eight universities were paid more than <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/average-australian-v-cs-pay-smashes-through-a1-million-barrier">A$1.2 million</a> on average.</p>
<p>Vice-chancellors’ pay has soared over recent decades (although most accepted pay cuts this year as part of COVID-related savings). In 1975, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07294360.2020.1841741">our research</a> suggests, vice-chancellors at elite Australian research-intensive universities received about 2.9 times the pay of regular lecturers on Level B – the second-lowest and most numerous academic grade. By 2018 they were earning 16 times as much. </p>
<iframe title="Ratio of Australian VC to lecturer pay, 1975 – 2018" aria-label="Interactive line chart" id="datawrapper-chart-ARDd2" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ARDd2/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border: none;" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Similar, but less extreme, trends are evident in the UK. In 2018-19 vice-chancellors <a href="https://thetab.com/uk/2020/01/21/see-how-your-uni-vice-chancellors-pay-compares-to-everyone-elses-139325#:%7E:text=Our%20analysis%20has%20found%20that,Vice%20Chancellors%20are%20wising%20up">received nearly £350,000</a> (A$635,000) on average. </p>
<p>Figures are just starting to be published showing the ratio of VC-to-staff average pay at each UK institution. Of the 20 highest-paid vice-chancellors in 2017-18, London Business School had the highest ratio at 12.8 times average staff pay, with the 20th-placed University of Reading having a ratio of 9.2. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372105/original/file-20201130-15-1mfbdwz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Table showing average pay of UK vice-chancellors and academics by year" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372105/original/file-20201130-15-1mfbdwz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/372105/original/file-20201130-15-1mfbdwz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372105/original/file-20201130-15-1mfbdwz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372105/original/file-20201130-15-1mfbdwz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=455&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372105/original/file-20201130-15-1mfbdwz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372105/original/file-20201130-15-1mfbdwz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/372105/original/file-20201130-15-1mfbdwz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=571&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07294360.2020.1841741">Source: Boden & Rowlands (2020). Adapted from Gschwandtner and McManus (2018)</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These trends prompt questions about what is going on. Universities are public institutions funded primarily by fee-paying students and taxpayers. As such, it is important to consider whether students and the public are getting value for money from these salaries. If not, we need to understand how salaries have been inflated and find ways to keep them in check. </p>
<p>When universities are challenged about these salary packages, they say vice-chancellors run complex “businesses” in competitive global markets, and their salaries reflect the work done and results achieved. Of course, these are demanding roles, but <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10479-019-03275-2">econometric research</a> demonstrates little, if any, relationship between vice-chancellors’ pay and their actual performance. </p>
<h2>What is driving these increases?</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-5890.2015.12045.x">Econometricians also looked at</a> what <a href="https://blogs.kent.ac.uk/economics/2018/%2005/24/university-vice-chancellor-pay-performance-and-asymmetric-benchmarking/">might be driving these pay hikes</a>. They concluded that benchmarking and salary tournaments play a role.</p>
<p>Benchmarking is a technical exercise whereby universities pick comparator organisations and pitch senior staff salaries at similar levels. This tends to generate a race to the top – pay rises in one university ripple through the others. </p>
<p>In salary tournaments, pay levels reflect the hierarchy of organisational roles. So, if universities hire highly paid marketing or communications staff, it drives up pay levels for those above (but not below) them. </p>
<h2>An issue of governance</h2>
<p>Benchmarking and pay tournaments explain the mechanics of how this is happening, but not why salary resources are allocated in this way. To unpick that, we <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07294360.2020.1841741">explored the governance structures</a> of universities. </p>
<p>Over the past 30 years, Australian and British universities have been marketised, emulating private-sector for-profit organisations. Core to that process has been the transition of vice-chancellors from being “first among equals” in academic communities to entrepreneurial chief executive officers of quasi-corporations. </p>
<p>In real market businesses, CEOs hold a lot of power, including the power to enrich themselves at the cost of the dividends paid to shareholders. In the dominant agency form of governance used in business, shareholders are cast as principals and executives as their agents. </p>
<p>Shareholders try to assert control by rewarding executives through salaries related to performance, creating an alignment of financial interests. Executives get paid more than their work is worth, but less than the cost shareholders would incur in more closely monitoring them – and executives are freed up to act entrepreneurially. </p>
<p>Problematically, universities are quasi-market not-for-profit organisations. As such, they don’t have controlling owners/shareholders. They do have governing councils, which are legally recognised as principals. </p>
<p>The problem is council members don’t have the same financial self-interest as shareholders – the vice-chancellor’s pay does not reduce their own profits. They might even prefer to pay their vice-chancellor over the odds because it makes their university look more prestigious. It also makes it less likely they’ll leave, saving them the bother of appointing a new one. </p>
<h2>What can be done about the problem?</h2>
<p>Governments could act as de facto principals because universities are public bodies of which they control the purse strings. But, in Australia and the UK, governments have opted for a hands-off approach, urging universities to behave like free-market organisations and not “interfering” in their internal affairs. </p>
<p>It hasn’t always been like this. From 1976 to 1986, the Australian government set recommended maximum salaries for vice-chancellors. Universities were penalised financially if these guidelines were breached. </p>
<p>This approach was abandoned as marketisation set in. Salaries have skyrocketed since. </p>
<p>As a result of this flawed governance framework, universities usually allow vice-chancellors to be members of, or at least attend, the remuneration committees that set their pay. When challenged, they maintain the vice-chancellor “leaves the room” when their pay is decided. The corporate world would not tolerate such practices.</p>
<p>It’s clear there is a governance dynamic that is driving the pay escalation. And when salaries are not justifiable by performance, they can be said to constitute rent – an economic concept that means extracting an unjustified level of resource from an organisation as a result of ownership or control. </p>
<p>Publicity around increased disclosure has so far done little to rein in salary increases. </p>
<p>Government being a proactive principal worked before in Australia. This suggests governments could, for instance, require maximum fixed ratios between vice-chancellors’ remuneration and average academic salaries. This would require considerable political will, but there is little evidence of an appetite for that.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150829/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Vice-chancellors’ average remuneration has soared from 2.9 times lecturers’ pay in 1975 to 16 times in 2018. New governance arrangements triggered the trend and might be needed to rein it in.Julie Rowlands, Associate Professor in Education Leadership, Deakin UniversityRebecca Boden, Chair Professor, New Social Research, Tampere UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1471942020-10-06T04:26:54Z2020-10-06T04:26:54ZUnis are run like corporations but their leaders are less accountable. Here’s an easy way to fix that<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/361763/original/file-20201006-20-1gps0n4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C9%2C6262%2C4140&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/multiethnic-business-people-sitting-row-conference-144792715">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A common critique of Australian universities today is that they operate as if they are corporations. The pursuit of endless sales in the form of international student enrolments appears to be their principal purpose, rather than the pursuit of learning and knowledge.</p>
<p>The government seems to view universities the same way it views big business. Prime Minister Scott Morrison recently justified <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-the-australian-government-letting-universities-suffer-138514">not extending JobKeeper to universities</a> by <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/interview-leigh-sales-abc-730-3">saying</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>[…] these are very large organisations with billion-dollar reserves and they’ve got multi-million-dollar CEOs and they’re making decisions about how they’re running their own organisations, just like many large businesses are going through this.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But there are lots of important differences between universities and big businesses. The difference I want to highlight is accountability. In some respects, there is more accountability in big businesses than in universities. Universities should be made more accountable to their members.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/governing-universities-tertiary-experience-no-longer-required-145439">Governing universities: tertiary experience no longer required</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>The corporate analogy</h2>
<p>Vice-chancellors might get <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/university-vice-chancellor-salaries-soaring-past-1-5-million-and-set-to-keep-going-20190620-p51zq3.html">paid like corporate CEOs</a> – as much as A$1.6 million, with an <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/more-australian-vice-chancellors-earning-a1-million">average of nearly A$1 million</a> for Australia’s 37 public universities. However, university governance and VC remuneration decisions are less accountable than corporate governance and CEO remuneration decisions. This should change.</p>
<p>The analogy with corporations makes a little bit of sense. Vice-chancellors are kind of like company chief executive officers: both are the most senior executive officer responsible for running the organisation. And university councils are kind of like company boards of directors: they both have ultimate oversight of the organisation and are responsible for appointing the VC/CEO.</p>
<p>But the analogy largely stops there. Universities might operate like corporations, but they are not accountable like corporations.</p>
<h2>Governance accountability</h2>
<p>Shareholders, who are “members” of the company, elect a company’s board of directors. By contrast, the “members” of the university do not choose <a href="https://theconversation.com/university-councils-need-greater-expertise-including-staff-and-student-voices-54655">university councils</a>.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://ucc.edu.au/university-governance-in-australia">statutes establishing universities</a> say the staff and students of the university are “members” of the university. But university members <a href="https://theconversation.com/governing-universities-tertiary-experience-no-longer-required-145439">don’t get to choose most members of university councils</a>. Staff and students elect only a small number of university council representatives. Governments or the councils themselves appoint most members.</p>
<p>This should change. At the very least, appointed university council members should be liable to be removed by a special majority vote of university members.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-are-not-corporations-600-australian-academics-call-for-change-to-uni-governance-structures-143254">'Universities are not corporations': 600 Australian academics call for change to uni governance structures</a>
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<h2>Remuneration accountability</h2>
<p>Just like company boards of directors determine CEO pay, university councils determine VC pay.</p>
<p>CEO pay decisions made by company boards of directors are accountable to company members. The law imposes a “<a href="https://www.asx.com.au/documents/resources/listed-at-asx-winter-18-two-strikes.pdf">two strikes</a>” rule. If 25% or more of shareholders vote against a company’s remuneration report two years in a row, then a vote on whether to spill the board must take place.</p>
<p>By contrast, university members have no say over <a href="https://theconversation.com/vice-chancellors-salaries-are-just-a-symptom-of-whats-wrong-with-universities-90999">VC pay</a>. University councils are not accountable to university members in the same way company boards are accountable to company members.</p>
<p>This should change. A similar “two strikes” rule should apply to universities.</p>
<p>University councils should submit annual remuneration reports covering the highest-paid university executives to university members. If 25% or more of university members vote against the remuneration report two years in a row, then there should be a spill of the university council. Following a spill, appointed members should be subject to strict criteria governing whether they can be reappointed.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/university-councils-need-greater-expertise-including-staff-and-student-voices-54655">University councils need greater expertise, including staff and student voices</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The right kind of corporatisation</h2>
<p>To be sure, these kinds of improved accountability measures can’t fix all of the woes of the university sector. Underfunding the education of Australian students and underfunding research are fundamental problems and need to be fixed.</p>
<p>But university accountability is still important. And it would cost the taxpayer nothing to do something about it: just a tweak to legislation, no spending needed.</p>
<p>Ironically, a bit more of the right kind of corporatisation might help remedy the worst aspects of the current model of corporatised universities.</p>
<p>There is no good reason why there should be more accountability and democracy in a private company than in a public university. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-and-government-need-to-rethink-their-relationship-with-each-other-before-its-too-late-139963">Universities and government need to rethink their relationship with each other before it's too late</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/147194/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luke Beck is a member of the Australian Labor Party. </span></em></p>Ironically, a bit more of the right kind of corporatisation might help remedy the worst aspects of the current model of corporatised universities.Luke Beck, Associate Professor of Constitutional Law, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1454392020-09-03T20:01:52Z2020-09-03T20:01:52ZGoverning universities: tertiary experience no longer required<p>Australian universities are in dire straits. The sudden loss of <a href="https://www.michaelwest.com.au/overpaid-university-bosses-cry-poor-as-their-foreign-student-riches-evaporate/">international student fees</a> due to the COVID-19 pandemic and recent court rulings of <a href="https://www.peopleculture.com.au/wage-theft-in-universities-significant-risk-for-casualised-workforce/">wage theft</a> by some of our top universities have exposed the depth of these problems. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-17/university-casual-workforce-redundancies-dirty-secret/12462030">workforce is highly casualised</a>. There is a sharp divide between senior management and academic and professional staff. On top of decades of <a href="https://treasury.gov.au/sites/default/files/2019-03/360985-National-Tertiary-Education-Union.pdf">declining federal funding</a>, the sector faces up to <a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/2020/07/26/universities-30000-jobs/">30,000 job losses</a>. </p>
<p>Yet more than 40% of Australia’s vice-chancellors <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/more-australian-vice-chancellors-earning-a1-million">earn more than a million dollars a year</a>. How did we get here?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/vice-chancellors-salaries-are-just-a-symptom-of-whats-wrong-with-universities-90999">Vice-chancellors' salaries are just a symptom of what's wrong with universities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>University councils have been corporatised</h2>
<p>Ongoing research by the Better University Governance Research Action Group at the University of Wollongong indicates that the kinds of expertise universities draw upon to govern themselves have become increasingly narrow and unaccountable.</p>
<p><a href="https://ucc.edu.au/university-governance-in-australia">University governing bodies</a> in Australia are known as university councils. Over the past 15 years or so, federal and state legislation has reconstituted these councils to favour members with no tertiary experience. </p>
<p>Reinforcing this trend, the federal government has just <a href="https://ministers.dese.gov.au/tehan/new-leaders-education">appointed a CEO</a> with <a href="https://campusmorningmail.com.au/news/new-teqsa-head-ambassador-corruption-fighter-john-howard-staffer/?utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=website">no experience in tertiary education</a> to head the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (<a href="https://www.teqsa.gov.au/latest-news/articles/teqsa-welcomes-new-ceo">TEQSA</a>).</p>
<p>It is commonly assumed vice-chancellors run Australia’s <a href="https://www.australianuniversities.com.au/list/">43 universities</a>. However, decision-making power ultimately rests with university councils. These councils appoint vice-chancellors, decide their salaries and adjudicate on their performance. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-are-not-corporations-600-australian-academics-call-for-change-to-uni-governance-structures-143254">'Universities are not corporations': 600 Australian academics call for change to uni governance structures</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Governments engineered the change</h2>
<p>Significant changes to university legislation over the past few decades have concentrated power in the hands of vice-chancellors. They have thereby gained much greater control over the operations and composition of university councils. </p>
<p>This shift in focus can be traced back to the 1989 “Dawkins reforms”. These changes institutionalised <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0896920513501351?journalCode=crsb">managerialism</a> while privileging a narrow range of expertise for university management and executives.</p>
<p>The then federal education minister, John Dawkins, thought if the majority of all university councils were external appointments, that would best serve the interests of universities. <a href="https://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv%3A1033">Internal members supposedly had too much to say</a> in the running of their universities. However, it was left to state and territory governments to determine the makeup of the councils. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/book-review-the-dawkins-revolution-25-years-on-19291">Book review: The Dawkins Revolution, 25 Years On</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The “<a href="https://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/outlook/assets/2005/simon-marginson-p.pdf">Nelson reforms</a>” of 2004 changed all that. As federal education minister, Brendan Nelson sought to refashion university councils in the image of corporate boards. Since then, the kind of experience required of council members has been greatly altered. Council members without tertiary experience now vastly outnumber those with it, and vice-chancellors have been empowered to determine many of the appointments. </p>
<p>While state and territory legislation differs in detail, since the mid-2000s the general trend has been consistent throughout the country. </p>
<p>In Victoria, university councils typically consist of 13 to 15 members. The vast majority have financial or management experience. Most include only two members elected by staff and students. </p>
<p>In New South Wales, university councils typically consist of 15 to 18 members. The number of staff and student representatives ranges from three to six. Here again, financial and management experience is given majority representation.</p>
<h2>UOW: a case study</h2>
<p>A prime example of the effect of these legislative changes can be seen in the roles and functions of the University of Wollongong (UoW) Council as <a href="https://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1989-127#pt.4">stated in the UOW Act</a>. It demonstrates that the council is mainly concerned with finance (approving and overseeing investments, borrowings and loans). It’s less focused on core activities such as the conferring of degrees and courses. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="University of Wollongong sign at entrance to campus" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356166/original/file-20200902-20-8pmjw8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356166/original/file-20200902-20-8pmjw8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356166/original/file-20200902-20-8pmjw8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356166/original/file-20200902-20-8pmjw8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=375&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356166/original/file-20200902-20-8pmjw8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356166/original/file-20200902-20-8pmjw8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356166/original/file-20200902-20-8pmjw8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=471&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Changes in the membership and priorities of the University of Wollongong Council reflect changes in its governing legislation.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/wollongong-australia-jan-22-2017-university-561372796">jejim/Shutterstock</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>The single biggest group of UOW Council members have no professional tertiary experience. Two-thirds have a background and/or currently work in corporate finance. </p>
<p>Along with the vice-chancellor, whom they appoint like a CEO, this is what the majority of governing authorities at Australian universities now look like. Elected staff and students account for less than one-third of council members (normally one academic staff, one professional staff and two student representatives).</p>
<p>Soon after coming to power in 2011, the NSW Coalition government <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/repealed_act/ugba2011329/">significantly changed the acts</a> of all universities in the state. These changes have resulted in the problems we are identifying here. </p>
<h2>Transparency and accountability lost</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nsw/num_reg/ugba2011ugbowo20122012134l30m20121058.pdf">2012 amendments to the UOW Act</a>, for instance, granted the UOW Council <a href="https://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-1989-127#pt.4">unprecedented autonomy</a> to make financial, staffing and coursework decisions. The legislation provides for little or no external accountability or transparency to staff, students or the wider community. </p>
<p>For example, the Performance and Remuneration Committee (which determines the VC’s salary and performance) consists only of the chancellor, the deputy chancellor and two of the council’s external members. The council is responsible for managing its own performance, including any potential conflicts of interest for external members.</p>
<p>Council minutes are not publicly available. This prevents external scrutiny of council deliberations. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Closed door with 'Do Not Disturb' sign on door handle" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356190/original/file-20200903-22-dehg2d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/356190/original/file-20200903-22-dehg2d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356190/original/file-20200903-22-dehg2d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356190/original/file-20200903-22-dehg2d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356190/original/file-20200903-22-dehg2d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356190/original/file-20200903-22-dehg2d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/356190/original/file-20200903-22-dehg2d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The minutes of university council deliberations are not open to external scrutiny.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/closed-door-hotel-room-please-do-383952523">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Staff must apply for permission to observe meetings. If approved, they are forbidden from later discussing any confidential matters raised (primarily finance-related) with anyone outside council. </p>
<p>As a result, it is not possible for the university community (or taxpayers) to determine the rationale for decisions involving many millions of dollars. University councils can insulate themselves from the concerns of academic and professional staff. Financial interests are then privileged over and above the university’s core responsibilities and functions of teaching, research and the maintenance of an informed and engaged citizenry.</p>
<p>The legislation governing university councils validates the appointment of members who lack knowledge of the tertiary sector and have little to say about academic activities. Councils whose members have little or no experience in the core functions of universities as <a href="https://overland.org.au/2020/09/where-have-all-the-surpluses-gone/?fbclid=IwAR2IxNs9R2XY5Ggq-Y8PIRXM-CbtzYzndVXi1VE_fVxX8P8QEITK3TncIDs">public service organisations</a> determine university governance. </p>
<p>Is it surprising, then, that building programs, casualisation and executive salaries are given higher priority than the concerns of staff and the tens of thousands of students for whom they are responsible? </p>
<p>We must therefore ask: is the “no tertiary experience required” approach the best we can do for Australia’s universities?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/more-than-70-of-academics-at-some-universities-are-casuals-theyre-losing-work-and-are-cut-out-of-jobkeeper-137778">More than 70% of academics at some universities are casuals. They're losing work and are cut out of JobKeeper</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/145439/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>George Takacs is a member of the Illawarra Greens. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Lucas, Andrew Whelan, Fiona Probyn-Rapsey, Marcelo Svirsky, and Nadia Verrucci do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Decades of legislative change made the councils that govern universities more like corporate boards and less accountable to academic communities. The problems this created are coming home to roost.Adam Lucas, Senior Lecturer, Science and Technology Studies, University of WollongongAndrew Whelan, Senior Lecturer and Discipline Leader (Sociology), School of Humanities & Social Inquiry, University of WollongongFiona Probyn-Rapsey, Professor, Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of WollongongGeorge Takacs, Senior Lecturer, School of Physics, University of WollongongMarcelo Svirsky, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Studies, University of WollongongNadia Verrucci, Lecturer and Head of Students, Faculty of Business, University of WollongongLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1432542020-07-29T03:37:38Z2020-07-29T03:37:38Z‘Universities are not corporations’: 600 Australian academics call for change to uni governance structures<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350069/original/file-20200729-25-1dfd2dy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/hierarchy-concept-man-writing-on-transparent-711282505">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>More than 600 academics from 36 Australian universities and members of the academic community have signed an <a href="https://australianacademic.wixsite.com/website">open letter</a> to federal and state education ministers calling for a return to a more democratic, cost-effective and functional structure for Australia’s universities.</p>
<p>Australian universities are in <a href="https://campusmorningmail.com.au/news/larkins-and-marshman-warn-seven-unis-lack-cash-and-savings-to-see-the-year-out/">crisis</a>. Large-scale redundancies are announced almost daily, with estimates of <a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-are-cutting-hundreds-of-jobs-they-and-the-government-can-do-better-142824">up to 21,000 jobs at risk</a> this year alone. <a href="https://theconversation.com/covid-19-what-australian-universities-can-do-to-recover-from-the-loss-of-international-student-fees-139759">Financial modelling</a> by the University of Melbourne reveals the prospects for even the richest universities are bleak, while poorer universities face a veritable existential threat.</p>
<p>The impact of job losses is likely to be greater for regional universities, given the significant role they play in their local economies. This impact is likely to be compounded by the government’s recently proposed course fee changes.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fee-cuts-for-nursing-and-teaching-but-big-hikes-for-law-and-humanities-in-package-expanding-university-places-141064">Fee cuts for nursing and teaching but big hikes for law and humanities in package expanding university places</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A flawed model</h2>
<p>This crisis has been commonly attributed to the impact of COVID-19 and the sudden drop in international student numbers. But while the effects of COVID-19 are undeniable, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-17/university-casual-workforce-redundancies-dirty-secret/12462030">the roots of the crisis are far deeper</a>. As history lecturer <a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-and-government-need-to-rethink-their-relationship-with-each-other-before-its-too-late-139963">Hannah Forsyth</a> put it: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Australian universities have long teetered — or, worse, arrogantly swaggered — on a precarious foundation.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>We argue the problems Australian universities are facing have largely been produced by a <a href="https://theconversation.com/book-review-the-dawkins-revolution-25-years-on-19291">profound transformation over the past several decades</a>, which has morphed them into organisations that mirror the hierarchical corporate structures of the commercial sector. </p>
<p>This is despite the fact their enabling legislation establishes them as <a href="https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/#/view/act/1993/69">public institutions with primarily non-commercial goals and functions</a>.</p>
<p>Public Australian universities are created by legislation which establishes them as statutory bodies with delegated legislative powers, similar to local councils. While each enabling act varies, universities are generally comprised of all permanent academic members of staff, all students, all graduates and a council. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-have-gone-from-being-a-place-of-privilege-to-a-competitive-market-what-will-they-be-after-coronavirus-137877">Universities have gone from being a place of privilege to a competitive market. What will they be after coronavirus?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>University councils are the governing bodies of each university, with a mandate to act on behalf of the university (constituted as above) to enact its legislative mandate (generally speaking, research and tertiary education). In this sense, universities are <em>not</em> commercial corporations, councils are <em>not</em> boards of directors, vice-chancellors are <em>not</em> CEOs and students are <em>not</em> customers.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350070/original/file-20200729-19-1cpfnqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350070/original/file-20200729-19-1cpfnqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/350070/original/file-20200729-19-1cpfnqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350070/original/file-20200729-19-1cpfnqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350070/original/file-20200729-19-1cpfnqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=426&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350070/original/file-20200729-19-1cpfnqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350070/original/file-20200729-19-1cpfnqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/350070/original/file-20200729-19-1cpfnqt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">University councils are not boards of directors.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/manhattan-meeting-office-city-view-227384539">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This model — whereby universities are public institutions with public functions, transparently managed by a council accountable to both the university and the broader electorate whose taxes finance the university sector — has been the dominant one throughout history, and <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-319-77407-7_37.pdf">still is in the vast majority of the world</a>. </p>
<p>Australia’s shift to a commercial corporate model has weakened this tradition. This has <a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-and-government-need-to-rethink-their-relationship-with-each-other-before-its-too-late-139963">resulted</a> in</p>
<ul>
<li><p>a significant increase in economic competition between institutions</p></li>
<li><p>aggressive student (especially international) recruitment</p></li>
<li><p>vast marketing budgets</p></li>
<li><p>ever increasing demands on staff productivity</p></li>
<li><p>extensive casualisation of the workforce</p></li>
<li><p>increasingly autocratic councils with diminished transparency and accountability </p></li>
<li><p>the entrenchment of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/vice-chancellors-salaries-are-just-a-symptom-of-whats-wrong-with-universities-90999">astonishingly well paid cohort of senior and executive managers</a>. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>The commercial corporate model has been revealed to be particularly fragile in the face of the present crisis. <a href="https://theconversation.com/many-australian-universities-may-be-in-surplus-but-does-that-mean-theres-fat-to-cut-77244">Many have advocated, over the years</a>, that the structural fragility of Australian universities could have been mitigated by exercising more judicious, conservative and careful management. </p>
<p>However, the commercial corporatisation of tertiary institutions has <a href="https://arena.org.au/last-chance-for-universities/?fbclid=IwAR3WyHN6IlVc_NEf3UfySu40pN_9gSPB_ZScMAwiCHyI_PCq92jVyTZBuqg">disincentivised managerial elites from doing so</a>.</p>
<h2>A way forward</h2>
<p>The federal government has so far provided scant support to help universities <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-the-australian-government-letting-universities-suffer-138514">deal with the COVID-19 crisis</a>. As a result, university managements have adopted a range of drastic measures to reduce spending particularly through large-scale job cuts. </p>
<p>Management has been accused of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-17/university-casual-workforce-redundancies-dirty-secret/12462030">prioritising a self-serving and broken model</a> at the expense of the careers and livelihoods of staff who have been systematically disempowered. No radical and necessary reforms of the failing corporate university model have been proposed. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/book-review-the-dawkins-revolution-25-years-on-19291">Book review: The Dawkins Revolution, 25 Years On</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>We propose a return to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-australian-idea-of-a-university-17433">time-honoured and proven horizontal university model</a> described above. We propose university councils are made more transparent and accountable to both the university, on whose behalf they operate, and the communities they serve. We further propose all directorial, senior and middle-executive roles are selected through internal elective processes.</p>
<p>A return to a more democratic governance structure will realign them with the intentions and expectations already set out in their enabling legislation, and will ensure they fulfil their time-honored and <a href="https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/#/view/act/1993/69">legislated mandate</a>, which is</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The promotion, within the limits of the University’s resources, of scholarship, research, free inquiry, the interaction of research and teaching, and academic excellence.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p><em>The full proposal, which will be submitted on August 1 to federal and state education ministers, can be found in the <a href="https://australianacademic.wixsite.com/website">open letter</a> all Australian academics can sign.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143254/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Renaud Joannes-Boyau receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alessandro Pelizzon and Martin Young do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An open letter, signed by more than 600 academics, is calling on state and federal education ministers to ensure universities change their hierarchical corporate structure.Alessandro Pelizzon, Senior Lecturer, School of Law and Justice, Southern Cross UniversityMartin Young, Associate Professor, School of Business and Tourism, Southern Cross UniversityRenaud Joannes-Boyau, Senior research fellow, Southern Cross UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1430292020-07-26T09:52:57Z2020-07-26T09:52:57ZWhy Kenya’s decision to appoint ‘corporate’ chancellors won’t fix universities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/349160/original/file-20200723-15-mx2ajh.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Egerton University chancellor Narendra Raval – a billionaire industrialist and philanthropist -- presides over a graduation ceremony in 2019. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Courtesy/Egerton.ac.ke</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The choice of chancellors appointed to head universities is a good indicator of the direction in which the state seeks to steer its institutions. It can foster or erode autonomy and shared decision-making. </p>
<p>This has been a big issue in Kenya for decades. But the country <a href="https://theconversation.com/ghana-is-considering-a-new-law-to-govern-universities-why-its-a-bad-idea-139583">isn’t alone</a>. The balance between university autonomy and politicisation is relevant everywhere.</p>
<p>In the British tradition, which Kenya generally applies, the university chancellor is a ceremonial head of a university. This titular head is usually a prominent citizen, a business or political leader. The executive academic and administrative head of the university is the vice-chancellor. </p>
<p>Since independence the chancellors of public universities have either been heads of state or their appointees. They preside over graduation ceremonies, can give advice to the university councils, and make recommendations to the cabinet secretary of education.</p>
<p>In theory the chancellor is a ceremonial position. But in practice Kenya’s chancellors are able – and even expected – to steer their universities in specific directions. This power is underlined in the three epochs that characterise the evolution of public universities’ chancellorship in the country. These are the political chancellor; the academic chancellor; and, more recently, the corporate chancellor.</p>
<p>The corporate chancellor, common since 2013, is a response to <a href="https://theconversation.com/kenyas-universities-need-deep-reform-not-just-a-hike-in-fees-115149">mounting financial challenges</a> facing Kenyan universities. The appointees include successful bankers, businessmen, corporate chief executives, industrialists and philanthropists. The goal is to use their management experience to guide the transition from a collegial governance model to a corporate managerial culture.</p>
<p>But as I <a href="https://www.internationalhighereducation.net/api-v1/article/!/action/getPdfOfArticle/articleID/2985/productID/29/filename/article-id-2985.pdf">argue</a> in a recent paper, it is highly unlikely that the corporate chancellors will be successful where political and academic chancellors failed.</p>
<h2>Political chancellor</h2>
<p>The political chancellor was manifest from independence in 1963 to 2002. During that period the head of state was the chancellor of all eight public universities. </p>
<p>Kenya was a one-party political state until 1992. Under this system the president exercised <a href="https://asq.africa.ufl.edu/adar_munyae_winter01">dominance over the legislature and the judiciary</a>. Political dissent was <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4006326">largely</a> from the academic community. Professors and students critical of the state were <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/45193675">jailed, exiled, or suspended</a> from the universities.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-review-of-kenyas-universities-what-formed-them-whats-wrong-with-them-118465">A review of Kenya's universities: what formed them, what's wrong with them</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>As the chancellor, the head of state appointed the university council members and the vice-chancellors and their deputies. All were selected on the basis of their perceived political loyalty to the state. These university administrators steered universities along specific political paths, including firing politically vocal faculty and expelling opposition-leaning students. Political control of universities was the goal of the political chancellor.</p>
<p>As one scholar <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13596749800200030">observed</a>, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>University development… (was) guided by directives from sections of the ministries of education or finance and economic development and the chancellor of the public universities.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Academic chancellor</h2>
<p>In 2002, the independence era ruling party was defeated by the opposition. This expanded the democratic space with an independent judiciary and an active legislature. </p>
<p>The new head of state declined to be the chancellor of all public universities. Instead he appointed prominent citizens as provided by the public universities law.</p>
<p>From 2003 to 2012, the head of state appointed former vice-chancellors and their deputies as chancellors of the public universities. These appointments happened in the context of a difficult climate for universities. </p>
<ul>
<li><p>There were governance and managerial challenges resulting in student and faculty strikes; </p></li>
<li><p>financial and resource constraints, including the inability of some universities to generate revenue internally; and </p></li>
<li><p>an overall decline in academic quality. </p></li>
</ul>
<p>There were expectations that academic chancellors would steer the transformation of universities into institutions that resembled corporate culture. This failed for two reasons. </p>
<p>First, the political class still regarded public universities as instruments for political legitimacy. Around 70% (or 23) of the current 33 public universities were established in the 2012–2013 academic year as each major ethnic group demanded a public university for its region. Political expediency superseded resource constraints as well as the need to stabilise the system for quality enhancement. </p>
<p>Second, academic chancellors lacked experience in what was expected of them. This included an emphasis on the privatisation and commercialisation of university programmes and services. </p>
<h2>Corporate chancellor</h2>
<p>Since 2013 public universities have continued to experience major financial, and managerial crises. </p>
<p>This heralded the appointment of corporate chancellors. But most universities are still unable to generate additional revenues to make up for a shortfall in government subsidies. Many are <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20200624140322382">financially insolvent</a> and unable to meet basic financial obligations such as paying salaries and retirement contributions.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-power-of-the-purse-threatens-academic-freedom-in-kenyas-universities-125178">The power of the purse threatens academic freedom in Kenya's universities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Equally significant have been financial improprieties and corruption. These have further eroded financial viability.</p>
<p>Managerial challenges loom large. Frequent closures due to student and faculty strikes have become too common. And universities are too caught up in bureaucratic red tape to respond quickly to crises. This is a legacy of a prior managerial culture of state control and financing. </p>
<p>The corporate chancellors appointed have been expected to guide universities in their transition from a collegial governance model to a corporate managerial culture. </p>
<p>It’s doubtful they will succeed.</p>
<h2>What’s needed</h2>
<p>University ethos differs from business and industry. Businesses are driven by profit. Universities are driven by knowledge production and dissemination. Corporate culture focuses on efficiency and merit. Universities are sensitive to effectiveness and equity. Corporate governance is top-down, while universities cherish shared governance. </p>
<p>In addition, universities are largely political. They influence, and are influenced by, national politics. For their part corporate entities tend to be apolitical. </p>
<p>Given these differences, corporate chancellors are unlikely to be successful in steering universities in the direction of desired reforms.</p>
<p>The government should stop trying to tinker at the edges. Instead it should strengthen internal university administration through shared governance. Under this model, university management would be shared between the council and senior management on the one hand, and faculty and students on the other. </p>
<p>Matters pertaining to academics and student affairs would benefit from input from faculty and students. At the same time finance and personnel would be managed by administrators. This model would ensure that all internal stakeholders were participating in planning and decision-making. In turn, this would make everyone accountable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143029/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ishmael Munene does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The government should stop trying to tinker at the edges. Instead it should strengthen internal university administration through shared governance.Ishmael Munene, Professor of Research, Foundations & Higher Education, Northern Arizona UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/583872016-05-12T21:18:21Z2016-05-12T21:18:21ZHow political interference keeps hurting Africa’s universities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/122272/original/image-20160512-16422-re3xpm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When politics interferes in universities -- overtly or discreetly -- it makes higher education less autonomous.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thomas Mukoya/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Political interference in Africa’s universities is not new. Universities’ governance was seen as “<a href="https://www.hrw.org/reports/pdfs/g/general/general.913/general913full.pdf">captured</a>” for narrow political rather than academic ends during the 1980s and 1990s. Politics shaped <a href="http://www.africanbookscollective.com/books/academic-freedom-in-africa">everything</a>: patterns of student access, curriculum content and teaching methods. Vice-chancellors’ political affiliations mattered far more than their academic standing or vision.</p>
<p>The continent’s universities started changing from the middle of the 1990s. Strong governance structures were prioritised. Governments promised to help steady institutions so they could focus on their academic missions. They also handed over the financial reins, supposedly allowing universities more freedom to generate new income streams.</p>
<p>But studies funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and conducted by the Council for the Development of Social Sciences in Africa <a href="http://www.codesria.org/">(CODESRIA)</a> suggest that <a href="http://www.codesria.org/spip.php?article2296">not much has changed</a>. The governance and leadership of universities in several countries remains troubled. The same tensions and crises associated with the old political order – student disturbances, harassment of academic staff and widespread academic corruption – <a href="http://www.codesria.org/spip.php?article1705&lang=en">persist</a>. Our research suggests there hasn’t been much more than cosmetic autonomy at most African universities.</p>
<h2>Political interests rule</h2>
<p>We found some deeply worrying trends.</p>
<p>First, Africa’s politicians still see universities as critical outposts for building political clients. They have a deep interest in who becomes a university vice-chancellor. They want to manage who ascends the academic ranks and who serves in student leadership. They also try to assess which academics can be conscripted to offer positive political commentary in the popular media. On the surface, universities’ governance organs appear free to make decisions about academic and leadership appointments. But our data suggests that opaque networks rather than merit determine such appointments at all levels. </p>
<p>It goes further. Universities have money to spend on procuring goods and services. This attracts businesspeople. Politicians, our studies showed, encourage university leaders to employ service providers from their own networks. These practices have turned some vice-chancellors’ offices into bureaucracies that are more interested in business than in academic advancement.</p>
<p>Vice-chancellors also appear to have become more autocratic. This is in reaction to the internal dissent caused by the political meddling described above. Staff and students are routinely subjected to unfair disciplinary processes. Vice-chancellors apply the lessons they learn from becoming bureaucrats to manage academic appointments. Some extend favours to certain internal “clients” – academics – by appointing them to lucrative administrative positions or promoting them without merit. Such positions are highly sought after because they pay better than most teaching posts.</p>
<p>Our research found that many African universities rely on younger academics to occupy senior teaching, research and administrative posts. They do not have the courage or experience to confront a university management gone astray. </p>
<p>Finally, and crucially, African universities lack data. There is little information collated about governance and leadership. This includes such basic statistics as student enrolments and staff numbers. Minutes related to critical governance and management issues, including those involving budgetary processes, remain classified. They can’t be scrutinised by the public – let alone by staff and students at the university.</p>
<p>So what’s gone wrong?</p>
<h2>Shortcomings of the ‘reforms’</h2>
<p>Part of the problem stems from how “politics” was conceptualised and defined as a problem in university governance. If a country’s president was also a public university’s chancellor, this was seen as political interference. Logically, then, people thought that cutting such visible political links would settle governance issues.</p>
<p>But political interests run far beyond the presidency. Most of Africa’s political and economic elites retain a keen interest in determining how universities’ leadership is constituted. More and more student activities at universities are being organised along political party lines, which attests to <a href="http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/manja_klemencic/files/2016_luescher_-_klemencic_-_chapter_for_r_brooks_final1_0.pdf?m=1454077927">new forms of politicisation</a>.</p>
<p>As I explained earlier, universities make good business sense for the elite. These people create networks that extend into universities’ governance structures. Political interference persists. It sets institutions up as little more than business outposts.</p>
<p>There was also an assumption that academics – once freed from narrowly defined political interference – would meaningfully and responsibly utilise their new autonomy. The hope was that they’d emerge as protectors and promoters of the greater public good in higher education. This hasn’t been the case. CODESRIA’s <a href="http://www.codesria.org/spip.php?article2531&lang=en">research</a> found that many senior academics have embraced post-1990s reforms only if these offer a stream of extra income. Most academics, we found, prefer administrative to academic appointments because these are more lucrative. This has left most institutions without an experienced professoriate. A senior layer of academics is a critical body for any institution. It can stand up against management’s excesses and act as a vanguard for the institution’s academic mission. </p>
<p>Here the continent’s older institutions – like the universities of Ibadan, Legon, Nairobi, Makerere and Dar es Salaam – have fared better than newcomers. Older universities tend to have a greater number of highly trained academics still in their service. Institutions that were established during the 1980s, 1990s and more recently haven’t been able to build a robust professoriate. These younger institutions tend to be battling most with governance and management issues, as well as the attendant erosion of academic reputations.</p>
<h2>Tackling the problem</h2>
<p>There are several ways to start making universities’ “autonomy” from politics more than cosmetic.</p>
<p>University managers must be required by law to open up their systems to broad public scrutiny. For example, they should conduct some aspects of their affairs through public hearings. Most countries’ constitutional provisions already insist on public participation around budgetary and policy issues. Parliamentary committees undertake their work in public, but most African universities seem reluctant to embrace such aspects of accountability.</p>
<p>This sort of transparency would tackle claims of bias in academic appointments and financial improprieties that are emerging as the “new face” of corruption in most universities. Imagine if prospective vice-chancellors and senior professors were interviewed publicly? Ordinary citizens could also be called on to make suggestions about a public university’s development and direction. These institutions are, after all, funded from the public purse.</p>
<p>Another area that needs attention is data governance: the collection, storage and dissemination of data for decision-making. Our research has found that most African universities are strangely casual about data. There’s no accurate record of admissions, so no plans are made about building infrastructure to keep up with student numbers. </p>
<p>This comes at a time when the use of open data is being encouraged as a benchmark for university quality. Studies have pointed out how open data can open opportunities for improving higher education’s governance and provide evidence that <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20130830152021193">improves policy</a>. </p>
<p>Africa is lagging behind. Universities claim, for instance, that they’re producing graduates ready for the job market. But we couldn’t find a single credible graduate tracer study or labour market survey to back such claims. Better data governance structures would lessen the chances of backroom deals and political interference in the running of Africa’s universities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58387/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ibrahim Oanda receives funding from his organisation.
The content reported in this article benefited from funding from the Carnegie Corporation of new York for CODESRIA's Higher education in Africa leadership program,HELP.</span></em></p>Africa’s universities supposedly became more independent after the early 1990s. But it appears they haven’t achieved much more than cosmetic autonomy from political interference.Ibrahim Oanda, Programme Officer for Research (Higher Education), Council for the Development of Social Science Research in AfricaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/470752015-09-08T03:42:13Z2015-09-08T03:42:13ZHow South African universities are governed is the biggest challenge<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93981/original/image-20150905-14636-dp7z0h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A statue of colonialist Cecil John Rhodes is removed from the University of Cape Town after student protests. Could real transformation come through changing governance structures?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nic Bothma/EPA</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The stories emerging about black students’ experiences in South African universities are nothing short of tragic. Stellenbosch University students have released a film called Luister (Listen) which documents their experiences of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF3rTBQTQk4">racist and exclusionary behaviour</a>. </p>
<p>Students at the University of Cape Town <a href="http://rhodesmustfall.co.za/">created</a> the Rhodes Must Fall movement in early 2015. Their campaign for institutional transformation has been mimicked elsewhere, even <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jun/18/oxford-uni-must-decolonise-its-campus-and-curriculum-say-students">reaching</a> Oxford University.</p>
<p>All of this shows that many South African universities are not perceived as open and safe spaces by the majority of those they are supposed to serve. This undercuts the whole purpose and role of higher education in a democratic South Africa. Universities should be a space for free thinking where knowledge generation and societal development go hand in hand.</p>
<p>So how best can the country’s universities effect change without undercutting what makes many of them excellent? Many are well regarded internationally for their research output and teaching. They are sites of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurialism. Their academics are trusted collaborators and partners in international initiatives. </p>
<p>How can the higher education sector guard against proposed changes being merely superficial quick fixes? At least part of the answer may lie in institutional governance.</p>
<h2>A three-fold restructuring</h2>
<p>Three major ideas have been batted about as being necessary for transformation. These are to <a href="https://theconversation.com/professors-arent-born-they-must-be-nurtured-43670">increase</a> the number of black academics in universities, to offer studies in <a href="http://www.unisa.ac.za/chs/news/2015/08/is-multilingualism-in-south-african-higher-education-possible/">languages</a> that are most <a href="http://dotmap.adrianfrith.com/">common</a> to South African students and to reform the curriculum so it takes more local knowledge and <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-a-less-eurocentric-reading-list-would-look-like-42068">African thinkers</a> into account.</p>
<p>These are all important, but a coherent discussion is also needed about how universities are governed and how this could be changed to help institutions become more inclusive and friendly.</p>
<p>Decisions about curriculum and other academic matters rest with university senates. The real power, though, lies in the hands of university councils and management. They control the purse strings. This kind of governance environment skews decision-making and imparts a natural bias towards centralised authority. A more inclusive approach is necessary.</p>
<p>For starters, we must cast a critical eye over the composition of university senates. These are an institution’s highest academic decision making body and could be an important site to effect transformation. In South Africa, senates are largely the domains of professors.</p>
<p>By right, full professors are normally members of the senate with a smattering of support staff, students, and elected representatives from other academic ranks. Given how <a href="http://www.news24.com/Archives/City-Press/Where-are-our-black-academics-20150430">few black professors</a> there are in South Africa, it’s easy to imagine what these spaces look like.</p>
<p>This structure, taken directly from the UK’s practice, is hardly relevant in post-apartheid South Africa. Universities in South Africa need to rethink the form of this important decision making body. In North America, for instance, most universities have elected senates that are representative bodies of academics, support staff and students. </p>
<p>Democratising senates and making them more representative of what universities actually look like is a great step towards eventual transformation. This means taking away the automatic right of all full professors to sit on the senate and making it a democratic space with a more fair distribution of representatives from different academic ranks, student groups and support staff. </p>
<p>Surely this will improve decision-making and ensure that relevant and important voices are heard.</p>
<h2>Councils must back off</h2>
<p>A second governance reform would be to reconsider the role of university councils. These entities, like corporate boards, should be focused on strategic decision-making and ensuring sound fiscal management. </p>
<p>The government changed its policy after apartheid and empowered councils to get more involved in universities’ daily affairs. The rationale was that those council members appointed by the government would be sensitive to the necessity of diversifying a largely white academy.</p>
<p>It was a good idea at the time, but unfortunately it hasn’t played out as intended.</p>
<p>The first problem has been the government’s approach to funding universities. They have demanded that the number of students be increased – but increased funding at below inflation rates. This pressure has pushed councils away from engaging in strategic initiatives and instead seen them focusing on budget line items.</p>
<p>Another problems arises when council appointees adopt a corporate mindset to university governance (and to ideas about transformation). For instance, a number of councils are pushing for annual quantitative measurement systems around research, teaching and service. This is inappropriate and distracts from what universities are about: knowledge generation and social development, both of which are often hard to measure in the short-term. </p>
<p>University councils need to return to their arms’ length roles and allow internal governance structures to get down to the business of transformation.</p>
<h2>Decentralise power</h2>
<p>A third and final governance reform in aid of transformation would involve decentralising the power of senior university management. Despite statutory safeguards, much authority is centralised with vice-chancellors and their deputies. For transformation to really be effective, it needs to be an initiative owned and driven by everyone. </p>
<p>Universities are microcosms of society. They are a community where different stakeholders – students, academic staff, support staff and others – contribute to its functioning. This needs to be recognised more coherently and appropriately in governance structures. </p>
<p>In such a context, what is needed are senior university managers who act as leaders, facilitate the deliberations of a more democratic and representative governance structure, and promote change, not individuals who are concerned with their own power and authority. This will requires a culture shift among senior university leaders.</p>
<p>South African higher education needs to get to grips with transformation. There is no silver bullet, but rethinking how our universities are governed must be central to our efforts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/47075/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David J Hornsby does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How can the higher education sector guard against proposed transformation measures being merely superficial quick fixes? At least part of the answer may lie in institutional governance.David J Hornsby, Senior Lecturer in International Relations & Assistant Dean of Humanities, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/109832012-11-26T23:55:57Z2012-11-26T23:55:57ZBack to the future: do we need a universities commission?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/17997/original/k7mkdsnx-1353892885.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C4%2C995%2C661&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The idea of a universities commission has been floated recently – but is it a good idea?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Universities image from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There’s been a push recently in university circles for a new body to help govern the sector and act as a buffer between the universities and government.</p>
<p>Champions of the idea point to the Universities Commission created under Menzies as a model that could provide governance for the sector as a whole, less directly controlled buy the Minister in Canberra.</p>
<p>As two vice-chancellors, Greg Craven and Glyn Davis <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/opinion/unis-need-menzies-and-gillard/story-e6frgd0x-1226501839378">recently wrote</a>, a revived universities commission would “allow government - Labor or Liberal - to set basic directions for higher education but allow an expert body to build the policy details in a coherent way.” Their suggested commission would have a broad mandate to allocate government grants and set student charges.</p>
<p>However, last week, Universities Australia <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/buffer-body-revival-fails-to-sway-ua/story-e6frgcjx-1226520682967">rejected a proposal</a> to set up such a body, citing concerns about additional red-tape. </p>
<p>Despite this, the notion of some form of semi-autonomous expert commission or “buffer” body deserves serious consideration. With less than a year until the next federal election now is a good time to discuss it.</p>
<h2>A historic model</h2>
<p>The federal government first took charge of university funding in 1957 just as the modern mass higher education system was emerging in Australia. </p>
<p>For the next thirty years, Canberra ran policy and funding through the Universities Commission, later called the Tertiary Education Commission when its brief was extended to cover vocational education.</p>
<p>The Tertiary Education Commission was inside government but partly independent of the minister of the day. It built strong expertise, published many reports, encouraged public discussion and took the long view. </p>
<p>In many ways the country was well served. However, over time the Commission moved closer to the sector that it was meant to regulate and this proved its downfall.</p>
<p>When reforming minister John Dawkins took over in 1987 he knew the Commission would oppose the more far-reaching changes he planned. In a stroke he abolished it.</p>
<p>The Minister went on to merge universities and colleges of advanced education in a single system, boost student numbers in higher education by 50%, introduce HECS, whereby students paid part of the cost of their tuition, create the Australian Research Council, and shape a more professional and strategic university leadership. </p>
<h2>Too close to the fire</h2>
<p>It is unlikely the Tertiary Education Commission would have made any of those changes. The Dawkins reforms have lasted, suggesting the Minister has had the better of the argument in all respects.</p>
<p>But the outcome was a changed regime in which the Minister’s office, together with the relevant federal department, directly administered higher education policy.</p>
<p>The current higher education department has an excellent statistical capacity and runs the system in cost-effective manner with a small number of competent officers. But it is a creature of the Minister, not a buffer body between sector and Minister as the Commission once was. </p>
<p>In theory, this creates greater instrumental effectiveness, but that greater effectiveness is difficult to realise in practice.</p>
<p>The direct relationship between central regulator and higher education sector is more abrasive than the old relationship buffered by the Commission. Every federal initiative has potential political costs that must be carried directly by the Minister. </p>
<p>This structure actually inhibits federal action rather than enhancing it, unless you have another Dawkins in charge.</p>
<p>It also reinforces the limitation of any highly politicised system of regulation: short-termism. Ministers and governments, unlike arms-length commissions, face the ballot box. They are little interested in long term planning. </p>
<p>And big issues like the unification of policy on vocational education and higher education are not tackled — in fact the pre-1987 Tertiary Education Commission was more advanced on that issue than is government in Canberra today.</p>
<h2>The ministerial effect</h2>
<p>Ministers since Dawkins have played their role in differing ways, each with their own nuances and colour. Broadly, there are only three types of higher education minister.</p>
<p>One: The Bismarkian reformer, glorying in the scope of the mega-role, as Dawkins did. Two: The symbolic reformer, that makes a few real changes that are each closely managed to minimise the political fallout, coupled to a lot of spin. Three: The do nothing.</p>
<p>No minister since Dawkins has played the Dawkins part. All have taken up positions as type two or three. Brendan Nelson was a particularly good example of type two.</p>
<p>The outcome is a top down CEO-style higher education system that is timid about building capacity, and about structural change, and unable to take the long view. The <a href="http://www.deewr.gov.au/HigherEducation/Review/Pages/ReviewofAustralianHigherEducationReport.aspx">2008 Bradley Report</a>, the Rudd/Gillard reform moment, was small beer after Dawkins. </p>
<p>Canberra takes in a narrow range of inputs in policy, sponsors less research on trends and prospects than at any time since 1957, and treats the higher education sector as a set of vested interests to be managed — and divided against each other — not as its partners in a common national enterprise.</p>
<p>To its credit the government has tackled standards and accreditation by forming the Tertiary Education Qualifications and Standards Authority, a body not unlike the old Commission in form: autonomous on a day-to-day basis while open to policy instruction from the Minister. But TEQSA’s brief is limited in range, while its focus on standards has the potnetial to intrude deeply into acadmeic freedoms.</p>
<p>Arguably, a narrow brief that runs too deep will lead to a lopsided regulatory system in which federal power is unduly focused on some areas and neglects others. Prohibition, rather than capacity building and forward planning, will dominate government agendas. </p>
<p>The suggestion from Vice-Chancellors Greg Craven and Glyn Davis is that a revived commission would absorb TEQSA. But not all VCs support the proposal as the recent Universities Australia decision shows.</p>
<h2>Alternative options</h2>
<p>If a single regulatory authority is unacceptable, an alternative approach is to create a number of specific purpose autonomous authorities in areas under-served by the Dawkins-created policy system. </p>
<p>A plural system would expand the range and expertise of government, while modifying the intrusive potentials of the centre. If it could be also handed the impossible political problem of tuition prices, to be dealt with in consultative and neutral fashion, so much the better.</p>
<p>A Commission devoted to data collection, international comparisons, projections of social and economic demand, forward planning, medium-term capacity building and public discussion would add something currently missing from the mix. </p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/10983/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Marginson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There’s been a push recently in university circles for a new body to help govern the sector and act as a buffer between the universities and government. Champions of the idea point to the Universities…Simon Marginson, Professor of Higher Education, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.