James Cook University

• One of the headline ideas floated by the Universities Accord interim report is a second national university.
• The basic idea is regional universities could opt in to become part of the new national university.

This is not a new idea

• Australia’s last major review of higher education proposed a national regional university in 2008.
• The Bradley review recommended “a study to examine the feasibility of a new national university for regional areas”.
• The Bradley review suggested a new national university to redress a lack of participation of regional students.

Not (yet) supported by regional unis

So far, the new national university has not attracted much support. The Regional Universities Network includes seven (though not all) of Australia’s regional universities. The network was “encouraged” by several key ideas in the accord panel’s interim report. But any mention of the national regional university idea was conspicuously missing from its media statement in response to the report.

Other university models

• The accord report says there are comparable international models for a national regional university, and points to the University of California system.
• A closer example of a national multi-state university is the Australian Catholic University.
• But it is doubtful whether this would be a good model for a national regional university.
• Even if a regional university were to consider amalgamation, it would be more likely with a near neighbour, not another more distant regional university.

Worrying ‘synergies’

• This is likely to worry university staff and students as “synergies” and “efficiencies” can often lead to cost cutting and job losses.
• There is a risk that a new national regional university will lead to remote, unsuitable, inflexible and unresponsive systems.
• And a “regional” university in north Queensland is substantially different from a “regional” university in western NSW.

TAFEs provide more opportunities

• If we want to improve opportunities for regional students, the accord should consider a bigger role for TAFEs in a national regional university and more generally.
• more opportunities for physical co-location of education and training facilities.
• Indeed, Australia already has six highly distinctive “dual sector” universities, which provide both university and vocational qualifications.

What now?

The interim reports contains more than 70 “areas for further consideration” by the accord panel. Many of these – including the idea for a national regional university – will not necessarily make it into the final report in December. If Australia is to have a new university there needs to be more careful thought about where it should be and what its ultimate structure and purpose should be.

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