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AUR
Volume 48, Number 1, 2005
AU
Federal Labor: Did anyone see where it went?
Belittled: The ugly face of university bullying
Academia’s demographic time-bomb
Where did all the jobs go?
AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES REVIEW
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previously published contributions are encouraged. Email: aur@nteu.org.auAUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES REVIEW
ARTICLES 28 Belittled: The state of play on bullying
Eva Cox and James Goodman
2 Running on empty Abused, ignored, sidelined, belittled. It’s the human face of a systemic prob-
John Quiggin lem. Eva Cox and James Goodman report on a recent studying of workplace
bullying that highlights its effects on those being bullied, and the rather
After nine years spent in opposition, it’s still hard to know what Federal
piecemeal administrative efforts to deal with it so far.
Labor intends by way of an economic policy platform. Kim Beazley still
seems to believe that the prime purpose of opposition is to oppose. John
Quiggin disagrees. Without a coherent and well-understood economic 35 No academic borders?
direction, he argues, Labor’s sniping will continue to look like unfocussed A Wendy Russell
opportunism.
Transdisciplinarity has been a veritable mantra, especially in the humani-
ties and social sciences, for twenty years or more. Yet academic structures
5 Pursuing the Ubiquity Principle and research application requirements still struggle to come to grips with
Tom Clark cross-boundary research and teaching. Making universities more trans-dis-
cipline-friendly is a tricky task, however. As Wendy Russell explains, trans-
Higher education research stands at a kind of half-way house. At present, it
disciplines require disciplines, and disciplinary boundaries, too.
is highly directed by Government research priorities. Yet the Government’s
ambition is to create a much more deregulated system, with self-created
winners and losers. Tom Clark suggests a different starting-point. All higher CORRIDOR OF UNCERTAINTY
education institutions generate research, and all academic staff should be
expected to do so, regardless of where they work. It is better policy to foster Introducing AUR’s new satire column, created in the belief that the contemporary
the full range of the research resources we have now, rather than allow academy provides rich resources for wit, irony and humour. Reader contributions
some research to sink in the pursuit of islands of excellence. are welcomed.
10
0 Reversing the slide 42
2 QA, RTS & quality of post-graduate theses
Michael Gallagher in Australian universities
The Government is embarking on a grand market-based vision for the sector N O Grants and V B Slim (aka Cameron Grant)
just at the moment when university enrolments will begin a long and per-
haps inexorable slide. And according to Michael Gallagher, higher educa-
tion is becoming a less attractive investment for the private sector even as REVIEWS
the Government is pushing the sector towards ever higher proportions of
non-government funding. 44
4 A spider’s web
Carter, Paul, Material thinking
16
6 Academia’s own demographic time- Review by Judy Lattas
bomb
Graham Hugo
45 Those dismal scientists
It’s no news that Australian academics, like Australian cricketers, are getting Davies, Geoff, Economia
older (and perhaps tireder). But the exact dimensions of the sector’s staff-
ing crisis haven’t been clear. Graham Hugo has been studying the figures Review by Alex Millmow
in detail, and he suggests that the problem may in fact be worse than has
been thought. Around a quarter of the academic workforce will retire in 46 Networking niceties
the next decade, and there’s a ‘lost generation’ where their replacements
should be. Teather, David C B (ed), Consortia
Review by Dr Eric Beerkens
24
4 Advertising change
Alec McHoul 48 Around the Journals
Everybody has a view about what’s happening to university hiring policies – Reviews by Maryanne Dever
and it’s often a bleak one. But it’s generally hard to tie down the facts. Alec Maryanne Dever kicks off a new rolling column designed to alert AUR read-
McHoul surveyed all the new job advertisements for the second half of 2004, ers to recent articles of interest from Australian and international journals.
and reports on his findings. As you might expect, change is in the air. Did you miss these?A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S R E V I E W Running on empty John Quiggin After nine years spent in opposition, it’s still hard to know what Federal Labor intends by way of an economic policy platform. Kim Beazley still seems to believe that the prime purpose of opposition is to oppose. John Quiggin disagrees. Without a coherent and well-understood economic direc- tion, he argues, Labor’s sniping will continue to look like unfocussed opportunism. With the Howard Government now in unchallenged control Review, have resulted in bitter infighting and few concrete of the Commonwealth Parliament, the role of the Labor Party achievements. The Party’s membership has withered and the must change substantially. Until now, Labor has been able to selection of candidates has been driven by branch-stacking influence legislation directly through the Senate, a task that and factional deals. required negotiation with Democrats, Greens and independ- Now that direct involvement in the policy process is a thing ents. Barring defections from the Government, the next three of the past, Labor has little alternative but to spend time devel- years will see the resumption of the traditional role of opposi- oping alternative policies. The purpose of this paper is to tion, able to criticise government policy and propose alterna- examine options in relation to economic policy. tives, but with no effective involvement in the policy process. The last time Labor was in this position was under the Does Labor need an economic policy? Fraser Government of 1977–80. At that time, the Labor Party took the opportunity to undertake one of the most successful The first question that needs to be asked is whether Labor programs of renewal in the history of Australian politics. A needs an economic policy, as opposed to a critique of the committee of inquiry led by John Button was established in current Government’s economic performance. The opposite 1978, and undertook a comprehensive review of the Party’s viewpoint was the basis of the ‘small target’ strategy pursued policies and organisational structure. from 1996 to 2001. The key arguments were put forward by The results were impressive. The National Conference, Kim Beazley in a speech to the National Press Club on 12 April which had been, at best, a non-event, and at worst a source 2005 (Beazley 2005): of embarrassment (the ‘thirty-six faceless men’ in 1963 and ‘An opposition should be judged, in the first instance, not on a the Terrigal fiasco of 1975), was expanded and became, for a clever alternative policy, but on the effectiveness in which it holds the short period, a serious venue for policy debate, and a source government accountable for its policies.’ of extensive media coverage of Labor and its policies. Inno- vative policies were developed, most importantly, the Prices Mr Beazley said an opposition was only regarded as an alter- and Incomes Accord. The party’s preselection policies were native government in the ‘six weeks prior to an election’. revamped, with the result that the incoming Cabinet in 1983 In some respects, this position is correct. One of the central was arguably the strongest of any Australian government, cer- tasks of government is macroeconomic management, encom- tainly the strongest for a newly-elected government. passing such issues as the use (or non-use) of countercyclical By contrast, Labor’s years in opposition since 1996 have fiscal policy, stimulus to specific sectors of the economy and been wasted. Policy development has been almost non-exist- the ultimate responsibility for monetary policy (even when, as ent. Attempts to reform the party’s structures, such as those for the last decade or so, an independent central bank has the made by Simon Crean after 2001, based on the Hawke–Wran immediate responsbility for setting interest rates). 2 vol 48, no 1, 2005 Running on empty
A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S R E V I E W
In the absence of strong ideological disagreements over growth driven by consumption out of capital gains appears as
basic issues like central bank independence, the primary con- an unsustainable bubble.
cerns over macroeconomic policy are those related to man- The alternative assumption begins with balance sheets in
agement, and the opposition’s task is, as Beazley suggests, to which assets and liabilities are valued at current market prices.
hold the Government accountable for its management deci- Income, net of consumption, can be derived as the change in
sions or non-decisions. net worth over a given period. In this framework, capital gains
Clearly the opposition’s task in this respect is more difficult represent the primary form of income. Production is relevant
in the context of an exceptionally long economic expansion only to the extent that it increases capital values, after allow-
than if the economy is performing poorly. While it is possible ing for capital gains.
to argue that the Howard Government has been lucky, and has In the standard, production-based system of national
not made particularly good use of its luck, such arguments accounts, the main statistics providing support for the view of
would be much more convincing in the context of an eco- the economy as a bubble are those relating to household sav-
nomic downturn. ings and the balance of payments. According to the Australian
Such a downturn is certainly a possibility in view of the rapid Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Australia has had negative house-
growth in Australia’s current account deficit in recent years, a hold savings for several years now. The primary mechanism
development that has historically been followed, in most cases, of negative saving has been the withdrawal of equity from
by a slowdown or recession. But on this score, the Opposition housing. Faced with an increase in the market value of their
can do nothing more than watch and wait. (While opposition homes, Australian households have increased their borrowing
leaders would scarcely be human if they did not entertain some through home equity loans or have traded up to more attrac-
desire to see their opponents fail, it’s obviously both inappro- tive homes by taking on additional debt. Since the ABS does
priate and politically unwise to express such a desire or to let it not treat capital gains as income, these transactions result in
inform commentary on developments in the economy.) negative saving in the national accounts.
On other issues, however, the lack of an alternative policy A focus on balance sheets yields a very different perspec-
creates serious difficulties. One problem is that, in the absence tive, arguably closer to the viewpoint of the typical household.
of any coherent alternative, the natural tendency of opposi- From the household’s viewpoint, a home equity loan drawing
tion is to snipe at the government from every possible angle, on capital gains is merely a partial offset against an increase
without regard to consistency. So, the government may be in wealth. As long as the household’s net wealth is increasing,
attacked on one day for being ‘high-taxing’, the next day for it appears from this perspective that saving is positive. The
heartless cuts in vital public expenditure programs, and the way to make this consistent with the income account is to
day after that for allowing the budget deficit to blow out. treat capital gains as a component of income. If capital gains
are treated as part of income, the decline in aggregate house-
Capital gains, wealth, aspiration and income hold savings appears much less significant. Despite negative
redistribution savings in the traditional sense, households have experienced
rising wealth thanks to capital gains.
In formulating an approach to economic policy, Labor faces Politically speaking, it is hard to see how Labor can win an eco-
a fundamental problem. Australians have always had a pen- nomic policy debate if the capital-gains view of the economy is
chant for speculation in real estate, and this has been reflected accepted. Not only has the Liberal Party traditionally been more
in periodic housing booms and busts. There is, however, no friendly to house owners (including speculative investors), but
historical parallel for the extent to which the Australian econ- the current Government has presided over a boom in housing
omy is currently dominated by the pursuit of capital gains. prices that is almost without parallel in our history.
Depending on how capital gains are interpreted, the steady Nevertheless, there has been considerable pressure for
growth in output and consumption over the past fourteen Labor to compete on precisely this ground, commonly dis-
years may be seen either as an unsustainable bubble or as a cussed in terms of ‘aspirational’ voters. In the discussion of
sign of even better things to come. this issue, the focus is almost invariably on aspirations for
The economic statistics on which analysis of the economy is bigger and better houses, rather than for better jobs, let alone
based are, in general, computed as part of a system of national for an improvement in the general quality of life.
accounting based on production, and on a concept of income The debate over aspirational voters is closely tied to the ques-
as the share of production flowing to owners of factors of pro- tion of income redistribution. One consequence of an econ-
duction (labour, land and capital). In this framework, changes omy based on housing speculation is that even households with
in the stock of capital assets arise from investment, net of high incomes are heavily indebted. It’s not surprising that, as
depreciation. It follows that capital gains are transitory asset Hamilton (2002) observes, large proportions of upper income
price movements, of little economic significance. Hence, rapid earners regard themselves as battlers, struggling to get by.
John Quiggin vol 48, no 1, 2005 3A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S R E V I E W Tax and public spending Industrial relations and unions Labor is on stronger ground when it comes to debates about The question of industrial relations is critical in determin- taxation and public spending. The idea that the share of national ing Labor’s political and economic strategy. This is one area income allocated to public expenditure should be constrained where the developments of the past twenty-five years have or reduced has been a standard assumption in Australian poli- been unequivocally adverse, at least from a traditional Labor tics for decades, dating back at least as far as the Hawke Govern- viewpoint. Union membership has declined drastically and ment’s ‘Trilogy’ commitments, made in 1984, to reduce taxes, the protections of the award system have been stripped away. expenditure and the deficit relative to national income. The adverse impacts of all this have been obscured by the An analysis based on structural change suggests the oppo- absence of any serious macroeconomic shocks, but will be site conclusion, namely that the public share of national clearly apparent next time there is a recession. income and expenditure should be increased. The sectors of By the time the Howard Government’s proposed industrial the economy that are, or should be, growing in relative terms relations reforms are in place, very little will be left of the Arbi- as we move from an economy based on physical goods to one tration system, and, except for a small minority of workers pro- based on services and information, include health, education tected by powerful unions, or with highly marketable skills, and various forms of risk management, including retirement conditions will de determined either by employer-imposed income and social insurance. These are the areas that domi- contracts or by increasingly threadbare award minimums. nate the expenditure side of the Government’s budget. Labor has the choice of accommodating the new realities, or Demographic change will play some role in increasing health seeking an alternative direction. One important effect of the expenditure. In particular, people with dementia are surviving Howard Government’s proposals to expand Commonwealth longer than in the past, and caring for them is expensive. But power over industrial relations is that a future Labor federal the major source of growth in health expenditure is the devel- government will have more power than in the past. And with opment of new treatments. We could ‘control’ health expendi- a clearly anti-worker system in place, few unions will be likely, ture by forgoing new treatments, but why would we want to? as they have in the past, to defend the status quo. Similarly sooner or later, we will need to face the fact that, in Labor has already committed itself to reversing many of the a modern economy, we need to aim for universal completion Government’s proposed changes, but it is important to avoid of secondary school, and progression to post-secondary edu- a purely reactive policy. It is not clear, for example, that Labor cation, whether this is academic, technical or vocational. This should seek to reverse Howard’s moves to a single national will not come cheap, and it is unlikely that much more of the system, or the replacement of the quasi-judicial Australian cost can be shifted on to students. Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) by the administrative While political actors and commentators have been reluc- Fair Pay Commission (FPC). With the right appointments and tant to recognise this, public opinion has moved ahead of powers, an FPC might be a more effective device for protect- them. Opinion polls in the 1970s and 1980s generally found ing and enhancing pay and conditions than the AIRC. that most respondents regarded tax cuts as a higher priority The crucial requirement for industrial relations policy is than improvements in public services. The balance of opin- the removal of the disabilities that have been piled on unions ion on these issues has been reversed in recent years. over the past few decades. These have included the revival of A crucial requirement for policy in these areas is effective anti-union common law actions derived from the 19th century co-operation between federal and state governments. The doctrine of master and servant, the application of trade prac- Howard Government has adopted a somewhat incoherent tices legislation, and the imposition of specifically anti-union form of centralism, seeking to micro-manage state policies on regulation including emergency services laws and require- a range of issues, while shying away from accepting responsi- ments for secret ballots to start strikes. (Note that no such bility for basic services. The result is that resources of money requirement is ever imposed for the end of a strike). and attention are diverted from core responsibilities to politi- While some restrictions on strike activity are justified, they cal point-scoring by federal ministers. should be matched by a restoration of the protected status of In political terms, Labor has a big potential advantage. It is legitimate union activity, including rights to organise in work- reasonable to expect that Labor will still hold government in places and to negotiate union-only workplace agreements most states at the time of the next election, due in 2007. An with employers. agreement for effective co-operation, something the present Government has not delivered and cannot, would go a long Concluding thoughts way to negate the appearance of impotence usually associated with being in opposition, much as did the proposal for the Although the Howard Government may appear unassailable, Prices and Incomes Accord in 1983. its electoral support is built, in large measure, on the unstable 4 vol 48, no 1, 2005 Running on empty, John Quiggin
A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S R E V I E W
foundations of a housing boom, financed by massive overseas Professor John Quiggin is a Federation Fellow in Economics
borrowing. Sooner or later, the boom will end, and economic and Political Science at the University of Queensland. He is
conditions will be less favourable. It is unlikely, however, prominent both as a research economist and as a commen-
that Labor can regain office simply by waiting for the gov- tator on Australian economic policy.
ernment’s luck to run out, without offering any alternative
strategy. This paper has offered some suggestions, but what is References
needed is a comprehensive review similar to that undertaken
Beazley 2005, Address to the National Press Club, http://www.news.
in the late 1970s. com.au/story/0,10117,12841269-421,00.html
Hamilton, C. (2002), Overconsumption in Australia: the rise of the
middle-class battler, Australia Institute Discussion Paper 49, Canberra.
Pursuing the Ubiquity
Principle
Tom Clark
Higher education research stands at a kind of half-way
house. At present, it is highly directed by Government
research priorities. Yet the Government’s ambition is to
create a much more deregulated system, with self-created
winners and losers. Tom Clark suggests a different starting-
point. All higher education institutions generate research,
and all academic staff should be expected to do so, regard-
less of where they work. It is better policy to foster the full
range of the research resources we have now, rather than
allow some research to sink in the pursuit of islands of
excellence.
In a previous article for AUR, I argued that higher education We benefit from being as clear as possible about the prescrip-
policy in Australia is at an impasse, which is not exclusive to tive teleology of our research system, which tends to mean we
this country, and which will only be overcome by developing should keep it simple. The telos, or original goal, of research
an as-yet-unrealised consensus on the underpinning goals and within a higher education system is to lead scholarship. Aus-
values of the system.1 In this article, I examine research fund- tralia’s university research funding framework does not adhere
ing as an area in which the beginnings of a genuinely sustain- to this precept. It conflates the original role of research in uni-
able framework might be fashioned. In doing so, I deliberately versities – to lead scholarly teaching and community service –
sidestep debates about the quantum of research funding and with macro-economic and other public goals for concentrated
about the public/private mix of funding. They are important research activity. These latter goals are often important in them-
questions, of course, but I wish to consider a framework for selves, an importance that may have intensified the conflation.
research funding that could sustain a wide range of answers Thus, while we have a variety of Commonwealth schemes to
to those questions. support university research, whose total value now approaches
Pursuing the Ubiquity Principle, Tom Clark vol 48, no 1, 2005 5A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S R E V I E W $6,000 million, the current framework is an unsuccessful amal- It has attacked the foundation disciplines9 most keenly. Post- gam of perverse and countervailing incentives. The vexation graduate research has not grown substantially since 1997.10 they cause sees the so called Research Training Scheme under Research higher degree commencements have been stable litigation. It sees the arbitrary measure of research income used at around 9,100, despite significant growth elsewhere in the to gauge research activity in the humanities, social sciences, system – especially postgraduate coursework. Peter Andrews, and creative arts. And it caused that bizarre policy-on-the-run Queensland’s Chief Scientist, has argued Australian universi- exercise by which the Commonwealth established and then ties need to turn out something like 75,000 science higher recalibrated its national research priorities. degree completions by 2010, in order to match OECD compet- We can make several pertinent observations about the itors.11 Targets for our current system start looking ambitious policy environment, none of them particularly original, which before the 15,000 mark.12 That discrepancy – which, naturally, have a bearing on the research policy framework’s capacity to is feeding the generational crisis – is an extremely strong argu- serve those teleologies it sets in mutual competition. First is ment for harnessing the ubiquity principle. that between a quarter and a third of Australia’s acknowledged At the same time, internationalisation of Australia’s higher edu- research and development investment is made within univer- cation system has tended to be prolific, but shallow, and com- sities – and most Australian university research is carried out mercially led. 13 Since 1990, institutions in Australia have keenly by students. These figures are based on economic data, which developed their international offerings in fee-returning areas measure economic investment, not the quantity or quality of of coursework degrees and degree-enabling programs, espe- research work carried out. In 2000, the Australian Bureau of cially Business and IT – notwithstanding a recent dropoff in IT Statistics (ABS) estimated that 70% of Australian universities enrolments. There has been relatively little flow-through to the research is carried out by postgraduate students. 2 foundation disciplines – or student and staff research activity. A second observation is that Australia’s higher education Internationalisation of enrolments has done nothing to arrest policy framework is unstable by design, because it has inten- Australia’s rapid downwards slide in language enrolments. tionally been constructed as a set of transitional arrangements Conversely, Australia faces a long-term net loss of academic – a staging post on the way to more radical commodification labour. ABS figures show the level of long-term emigration, of higher education services. That is an argument Michael Gal- including ‘permanent’ emigration, rose much more rapidly than lagher has put convincingly on several occasions since he left comparable immigration rates during the late 1990s. It is note- the public service. 3 worthy that the qualifications levels of emigrants are generally A third is that Australia has been performing below average higher than those of immigrants.14 Of course this is overstated in research investment, by OECD standards, at 17th rank out somewhat by the tendency of Australian accrediting bodies to of 29 countries. In 2000–2001, Australia was 18th among 28 doubt or underestimate the qualifications of immigrants. Still, countries for Business Expenditure on Research and Develop- in the current academic labour market – and again, this is ment (BERD).4 Australia has developed no effective policy to especially true in the foundation disciplines – there is typically raise BERD. While we are still looking to develop an answer on more on offer for an Australian to leave than for a foreigner or that front, our performance continues to fall behind. Austral- an expatriate Australian to arrive. While it is generally good for ia’s investment in R&D as a proportion of GDP actually went both individuals and the system if scholars spend time working backwards significantly between 1995 and 1998 – while most abroad, the system would like them to come back in greater OECD countries were heading the other way. 5 numbers and at younger ages than they do. In a related point, entrepreneurship seems, at best, an unreli- These starting observations take the form of challenges to a able contributor to university R&D coffers for the foreseeable policy approach, insofar as they indicate a lack of coherence, future. Many Australian universities have pushed to increase sustainability, responsiveness, cost-effectiveness, fairness and the spin-off and commercialisation potential of the research equity, transparency, and accountability within the system as conducted by their students and staff. Still, growth in the com- currently framed.15 Another way to create challenges for the mercialisation of publicly funded R&D from 1998 to 20036 policy approach is to set out axioms or objectives of policy. was much slower than the growth in domestic undergraduate This paper is consciously guided by two. full fees (‘DUFF’) over the same period.7 Without government- First, if our funding system is to encourage research activity subsidised loans (that is, a ‘HELP effect’), or a similarly radical generally, which is a socially progressive agenda, the system circuit-breaker, commercialisation growth will remain slow in has to fund research activity wherever it is likely to occur. the long term. That requires a form of conservatism – a lack of positivism Fourthly, the biggest crisis facing Australian scholarship is – in judging what kinds of research activity are most benefi- one of generational renewal.8 University managements and cial. It also requires a form of liberalism – a lack of interfer- supra-institutional funding authorities alike have failed to rec- ence – with regard to the decisions that scholars and their ognise or resolve a crisis of staff ageing and resource decay. publishers make. 6 vol 48, no 1, 2005 Pursuing the Ubiquity Principle
A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S R E V I E W Secondly, research activity is (or should be) a constant A system that supported ubiquitous research as one-third of of scholars and of higher education institutions across the academic staff activity, plus research courses as a set propor- board.16 A research-led pedagogy is a requirement for any tion of the student cohort, would be fairly straightforward to learning that claims the rather pompous title, ‘higher.’ Not fund. At this level, the main policy challenge is to distribute every university needs to be intensive in its development of workloads and higher degree places appropriately. In a public research infrastructure. But all scholars must be expected to and private university system with a turnover of $x (not research – and to share the benefits of their research publicly. including competitive grants, consultancies, BERD, revenue Just as the scholarly curriculum is the definitive characteristic from research commercialisation, or philanthropic research of a grammar school – a rather successful brand in today’s sec- funds), the ‘ubiquity research’ component should be a set pro- ondary education market, especially if we include the academ- portion. I shall not hazard a stab at a fraction here, but it could ically selective state schools – so the teaching-research nexus be done quite finely given sufficient data and modelling. is definitive for a university. For the present purposes, we can Now, other goals may be attributed to university research, as call this axiom the ‘ubiquity principle of university research.’ mentioned, such as the solving of public and/or commercial At a macro-policy level, the rationale for ubiquity is quite problems. If such goals recommend approaches that conflict strong, if we can get over a certain scepticism about its yearning with the ubiquity principle, they should be pursued through quality. The ubiquity principle for university research policy separate policy and funding frameworks. Currently, these is sympathetic to academic workforce aspirations (which may quite different goals are conflated in a policy framework that be an optimistic take on the scepticism). At the same time, as creates perverse incentives and arbitrary outcomes. we shall see, it does not drain significant resources away from So, unlike Gallagher – not to mention Kemp and Nelson – I the intensive research that is performed in a select group of do not advocate lifting the whole research funding framework university departments and centres. Ubiquity is conducive to away from the higher education funding framework. Rather, disciplinary diversity in the research effort, due to the size of I propose that any separate research framework should focus the low-capital-cost research system17 it can sustain. And it is a on intensive research – that is, on research activity above and superb vehicle for maximising the research productivity of all beyond the ubiquitous. That accommodates the tendency universities, because of its efficiency: the capital requirements for research-only funding systems to be driven by competi- for ubiquitous research are predominantly met by the capital tive performance measures (rewarding success with the already provided for university teaching, community service, means for further success), while ubiquitous research activity and administration functions. needs to be funded as a core element of university scholar- Despite sharing many of my starting points with Gallagher, ship. Intensive research tends to take place in institutes and then, I have a rather different sense of how to proceed. This other non-teaching centres, but all teaching departments of reveals different understandings of the ‘critical mass’ or ‘inten- all universities would be expected to maintain a minimum of sity’ principle – that a concentration of resources intensifies research activity and postgraduate research education, which productivity. requires new investment only to the extent that the university Concentration is inevitably mitigated by the axiom of ubiq- system as a whole does. uitous scholarship. All universities are research-active insti- I envisage a system, then, where the debate about ubiquitous tutions, if not necessarily research-intensive, because higher research funding is principally a debate about the size of the education is research-led. How do we make this ubiquity a university system overall. The debate about intensive research strength, rather than a weakness? How do we set a critical funding will at least continue, or preferably progress, the cur- mass approach that builds, and builds upon, a diverse and rent debate about the total value and distribution of competi- ubiquitous research base, instead of sucking it dry? tive grants, BERD, research commercialisation, consultancies, We must find a balance between funding for research- and philanthropic research funds. That will doubtless con- intensive centres and funding for research activity across the tinue to involve national research priorities. The Government board. This is admittedly a reconfiguration of the distinction introduced these (bear in mind that the Australian Research between research-intensive and teaching-only institutions, but Council’s (ARC) Linkage program is itself effectively a national we should not overestimate its subtlety. It is an attempt to research priority) and the Labor Party has claimed it will make give practical, rather than romantic, support to the ubiquity improved and possibly increased use of them if elected. 18 The principle, while at the same time recognising that research is main purpose of this ‘ubiquitous/intensive’ distinction is to find directly geared to achieve other ends in addition to scholar- a more sustainable formulation for adequately funding both, and ship — ends that are typically better served by more inten- for adequately discriminating between, predominantly curios- sive investment in researchers and their resources than the ity-driven research with a low capital cost on the one hand, and ubiquity principle should (or, speaking pragmatically, can) be the more intensively capitalised research which is commanded used for. by its public and/or commercial interest on the other. Tom Clark vol 48, no 1, 2005 7
A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S R E V I E W
When we consider how to fund it, a great strength of this 2. Time for teaching staff to conduct curiosity-driven research,
approach is its ability to adapt to the contours of different including sabbatical leave programs, should receive dedi-
private/public funding mixes. Ubiquitous research would cated funding through basic operating funds, since it is
be proportionate to the scale of each university, regardless central to scholarship. It should be an explicit compo-
of funding sources. Intensive research would be driven by nent both of grant allocations and of university financial
a system-wide target for quantum. Perhaps the most prag- reports.
matic virtue of this distinction lies in the clarity with which 3. Basic research infrastructure (eg libraries) should receive
we can focus on intensive research as the dynamic location dedicated funding through basic operating funds as well,
for a debate about national research investment. If the coun- since it too is central to scholarship. It too should be an
try decided to engage in more research activity, say, then the explicit component both of grant allocations and of uni-
intensive research system would become unambiguously the versity financial reports.
main vehicle for delivering that.19 By an optimistic reading, At the same time, guaranteeing the integrity of this proposed
such an increase would combine BERD, revenue from uni- framework requires that policy establish and uphold minimum
versity commercialisations, consultancies, and philanthropic quality requirements for the scholarly system as a whole. Ubiq-
sources with increased national and international competi- uitous research would perform an acknowledged leadership
tive grants revenues. A pessimistic reading would focus on function in this framework, meaning that its scholarly integrity
national competitive grants. would be particularly important, and that its relation to the
The resourcing of this proposed framework requires that rest of the system would need to be clear. Thus accounting for
policy consolidate a stable funding and reporting framework the quality and quantity of non-competitive research under-
for ubiquitous research. Universities and funding agencies taken within a university should be combined with methods
alike should be obliged to demarcate a clear research com- of accounting for academic quality more broadly.
ponent of higher education funding, separate from research- Quality assessment becomes more important, not less so,
only funds, and notionally distinct from funds for teaching and when the ubiquity principle becomes a policy axiom. We
community service. Outside of special circumstances, this know that research productivity is extremely lumpy within
component should remain a fixed proportion of basic operat- and between Australia’s academic departments, although the
ing funds: Commonwealth grants, fee revenues, and the like. data only show it imprecisely. This in itself constitutes a major
This implies at least three elements: challenge to the credibility of the ubiquity principle. If the
1. Postgraduate research education – which is much more object of policy is to increase research activity, smoothing the
than the name ‘research training’ implies – should be lumpiness requires that departments, faculties, and institu-
a component of basic operating funds. There is some tions make the ubiquity assumption a reality – and that the
wisdom in maintaining a separate system of funding for Commonwealth be assured of this.
the Australian Postgraduate Award and International Post- We now know that a research assessment exercise in Aus-
graduate Research Scholarship – especially if it becomes tralia is imminent. While such a rigorous (but laborious)
possible to award them nationally, through the Australian exercise has the potential to measure and validate ubiquitous
Research Council. There may be value in funding addi- research, it would be wiser to extend a peer review quality
tional postgraduate research places within the research- process to cover all scholarly activity (including ‘community
intensive framework – although enabling long-term service’), unlike the United Kingdom’s bifurcated quality sys-
postdoctoral careers, and bringing working conditions tems for teaching and research.
for research-only staff up to the general academic stand- Guaranteeing the scholarly integrity of ubiquitous research
ard, looks a more urgently needed use for such funds. If also requires at least 3 elements:
there was a criticism of the Labor Party’s 2004 election 1. Research quality appraisals urgently need to reduce their
platform promise of 300 new research-and-teaching post- dependence on lagging measures (simple measures of
doctoral fellowships, aimed principally at career develop- funding inputs and aggregated outputs), instead develop-
ment,20 it was that the system could do with about five ing leading measures (such as cross-referencing research
times that number. One thousand five hundred fellow- achievements against age and seniority profiles). This point
ships would mean approximately 20–25% of APA holders applies equally strongly to the intensive research system.
could expect to be employed as national postdoctoral For example, the ARC’s reliance on measures of individual
fellows after completing their higher degrees, with some track record, especially publications, in allocating its Link-
room to recruit fellows from other backgrounds as well. age and Discovery grants has contributed significantly to
A well-directed funding system would aim to preserve the nationwide logjam in research career development.
such a proportion, rather than any fixed number of fel- 2. Universities must get serious about developing their
lowships. department and faculty management staff, so that profes-
8 vol 48, no 1, 2005 Pursuing the Ubiquity PrincipleA U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S R E V I E W
2 ABS, Research and Experimental Development, Higher Education
sional staff leadership is the norm, rather than the excep- Organisations Australia, ABS paper 8111.0, ABS, Canberra, 2000, p.6.
tion, in the places where research work is actually done. 3 See for example his paper to the Monash 2004 Seminar on Higher
Smoothing out the lumpiness in academic research pro- Education Policy, 3 August 2004: http://www.education.monash.edu.
au/centres/mcrie/Gallagher%20on%20Hi%20Ed%20policy%20040706.
ductivity – one of the biggest challenges for the ubiquity rtf (accessed 20/4/2005), pp.2-3.
principle – will not be achieved without the skilful and 4 Taken from ABS figures: http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.
active participation of those department and faculty man- nsf/Lookup/71D620AE73D5660DCA256DEA00053A0D (accessed
agement staff. 20/4/2005).
3. The push to improve research student supervision across 5 M. Considine, S. Marginson, and P. Sheehan, The comparative per-
formance of Australian as a knowledge nation, Chifley Research Centre,
the board must continue and succeed. Some universities Canberra, 2001, p.37.
have advanced much further than others down this path 6 The Allen Consulting Group, The economic impact of the commer-
– they show us one of the most welcome consequences cialisation of publicly funded R&D in Australia, The Australian Institute
for Commercialisation, Brisbane, 2003, Chapter 4.
of the RTS emphasis on completions. The ubiquity system
7 This is drawn from DEST statistics: in 1998 Australian universi-
needs to normalise well trained and properly accredited
ties reported 449 EFTSU in DUFF enrolments. In 2003 the number
supervision. was 10,898: http://www.dest.gov.au/highered/statpubs.htm (accessed
In conclusion, I would like to return the argument to an 4/8/2004). Admittedly, the latter number has been (intentionally)
distorted by the University of Melbourne’s practice of reporting its
important paradox mentioned in the introduction to this arti- undergraduate scholarship holders as DUFF enrolments.
cle: how can one safeguard or advance the quality of research 8 This analysis draws on a demographic argument by Graeme Hugo
without safeguarding or advancing the value of research fund- has outlined on several occasions, including his presentation to the
3rd Monash seminar on higher education policy: http://www.educa-
ing? There are answers to this question, although none are
tion.monash.edu.au/centres/mcrie/2004policyseminars.htm (accessed
satisfactory as a basis for long-term policy. Indeed, the gen- 20/4/2005).
erational crisis that Hugo identifies (see above) may mean 9 ‘Foundation disciplines’ is of course a rather loose phrase. I mean
‘safeguarding’ is no longer an option. Like the NTEU, I believe it to indicate those traditional disciplines of the academy which are
taken as a theoretical basis for the more applied scholarship that has
Australia must choose whether to make a major investment in flourished in universities around the world since 1945: disciplines such
the scholarship of its universities or continue a steady decline. as physics, pure mathematics, languages and literature, and philosophy.
But that is a background dispute: it does not override the cen- 10 DEST statistics.
tral argument here. 11 Cf. New Scientist, 13 March 2004, 47. The article actually quotes
The ubiquitous/intensive policy approach I have outlined, Andrews as calling for 85,000 extra scientists.
without adequate funding support, would be an ameliorative 12 DEST statistics.
framework – palliative care for the research effort at Australian 13 These arguments have been set out by Simon Marginson, among
others. See for example his ‘Nation-building universities in a global
universities. And yet, even that bleak outlook seems preferable environment: the case of Australia,’ Higher Education 43, (2002). 409-
to the status quo. On the other hand, as a funding model for 428.
expansionary reinvestment in Australia’s university research 14 http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@nsf/
94713ad445ff1425ca25682000192af2/
effort, there is no substitute for developing clear goals, which
74cb84b5a3e3eaa9ca2569de002139c6!OpenDocument (accessed
are sympathetic to the efforts and aspirations of researchers 20/4/2005).
in universities, and sticking to them. The ubiquitous/intensive 15 Criteria derived from Gallagher’s presentation to the first seminar in
approach seeks to construct a long-term, recurring choice the Monash 2004 series, op. cit., p.1. Their succinctness and breadth as
an exposition of contemporary policy doctrine is memorable.
between investing for healthy new growth and salvaging the
16 This has been a guiding dictum for the Higher Education Research
gentlest of underfunded decays. and Development Society of Australasia. eg. Angela Brew, ‘Understand-
ing Research-led Teaching,’ HERDSA News 25/1 (April 2003), 1 & 3-5.
Dr Tom Clark is an honorary Research Associate with the 17 As distinct from a high-capital-cost or ‘intensive’ research system,
Faculty of Education, Monash University. In 2005 he has discussed further in this paper.
been mostly unemployed, travelling around the world. 18 See pp.29f of the ALP policy discussion paper, Research: Engine
Room of the Nation. http://www.alp.org.au/dload/federal/media/sena-
tor_kim_carr_research_paper.pdf (accessed 4/8/2004).
Acknowledgement 19 By comparison, a move to increase or decrease ubiquitous research
relative to other higher education funding would be principally a debate
This article is based on a presentation given to the 2nd Monash 2004 about the role and nature of university scholarship.
Seminar on Higher Education Policy, 3 August 2004. I am indebted to
Emmaline Bexley, Julie Connolly, and David Burchell for their com- 20 See p.18 of the ALP policy document Aim Higher. http://www.alp.
ments on earlier drafts of the article. org.au/dload/federal/media/education_policy.pdf (accessed 4/8/2004).
21 http://www.naf.org.au/proceedings/researchexcellence/batterham.
htm (accessed 20/4/2005).
Endnotes
1 Tom Clark, ‘Under no circumstances resolve the main problem: the
higher education policy overview in Australia,’ AUR 46/2 (2004), 12-15.
Tom Clark vol 48, no 1, 2005 9A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S R E V I E W Reversing the slide Michael Gallagher The Government is embarking on a grand market-based vision for the sector just at the moment when university enrolments will begin a long and perhaps inexorable slide. And according to Michael Gallagher, higher education is becoming a less attractive investment for the private sector even as the Government is pushing the sector towards ever higher proportions of non-government funding. My aim in this article is to do two things: first, to analyse the ing fields, where responsibilities and programs are scattered present policy position in tertiary education and research; and across a plethora of portfolios, each with their own rules and second, to suggest directions for future policy development conditions, and application and reporting procedures. And it – keeping in mind changes in the operating environment. has failed to work cooperatively with the states, especially in Even though I will mainly discuss higher education here, I the important area of investment in, and collaborative use of, choose to use the term ‘tertiary’ education because a coherent research infrastructure. policy is needed to cover all forms of post-secondary educa- tion – vocational education and training, university undergrad- Higher education after the ‘crossroads’ exercise uate and graduate education, and professional development, as well as adult and continuing education. It is inapt for the In international as well as Australian experience, policies for Howard Government to talk of, indeed to legislate for so-called large and complex education systems rarely depart suddenly ‘learning entitlements’ that apply to only one part, the higher from one direction to another. Rather they shift incrementally education part, the more elite part of the tertiary education over a decade or more, and over such a period can take a radical sector, and that part – undergraduate degree education – that change of course, depending on particular decisions along the will possibly grow the least in the future. Even the West Com- way. At times, such decisions may be taken for other than edu- mittee in its otherwise inconsequential 1997 report, Learning cational policy reasons or be the outcome of political compro- for Life, saw the logic of a universal tertiary education entitle- mises, yet have profound impacts on the direction of policy. ment that allowed people multiple points of access for vary- When we look back over the last decade in Australian ter- ing purposes at different times; the only thing they got right tiary education policy we now see in retrospect a series of the Government ignored. incremental shifts since the opening up of places to overseas Deliberately too, I distinguish between education and students on a fee-paying basis. Among these incremental shifts research – because we need in Australia urgently to develop a were such as the persistent tampering with HECS rates and coherent policy for building research capability. That is lack- repayment thresholds, the opening up of postgraduate fee- ing at present, not only through inadequate levels of invest- paying places, the reduced rate of indexation of operating ment. The Howard Government has confused its approach grants, the ending of triennial block funding, the introduction of to research with its policies for higher education and we fee-paying places for domestic undergraduates, marginal fund- have a lack of clarity about the respective roles of universi- ing for enrolments above targets, the differentiation of HECS ties and public research institutes, a set of conflicting signals rates by field of study, the separation of funding for research and perverse incentives, and a dissipation of effort that will training from university operating grants, the introduction of cause Australia to slip further off world pace. It has failed to loans for postgraduate students, and the inclusion of private integrate approaches to bio-sciences, ICT and other emerg- institutions on the higher education funding schedules. 10 vol 48, no 1, 2005 Reversing the slide
A U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S R E V I E W
When the Crossroads papers were rushed out in 2002 there There are three basic policy purposes for opening up
were a couple of ‘core’ policy shifts envisaged: pricing deregu- sources of growth in income for the supply of education
lation, expansion of fee-paying access and associated exten- services: to expand the system to accommodate increasing
sion of loans for domestic undergraduates, and the entry of demand; to substitute private for public expenditure; or to
private providers. Few expected the Higher Education Sup- stratify the system. The case for system expansion only makes
port Act of 2003 to have been so prescriptive and narrow in sense through to around 2011, after which time the demo-
redefining the relationship between universities and the state graphic trends will go into reverse. The case for substitution is
in ‘purchaser-provider’ terms, and to have been so intrusive largely an ideological one; empirically the data suggest that the
into areas of longstanding university autonomy in Australia private rate of return to higher education is falling while costs
– autonomy of governance, curriculum, pedagogy, assessment, are rising and that the social rate of return exceeds the private
staffing conditions and student admissions. rate. That leaves stratification as the surviving rationale. And
The recent raft of changes to higher education policy, if that is what the policy shift is basically about – on the demand
implemented, will I believe only be able operate for between side, creating privileged pathways for the affluent in an other-
two and four years before they implode. They are transitional wise massified system and, on the supply side, differentiating
policy measures to shift the system radically from a publicly- institutional types and funding rates.
oriented to a privately-oriented model. Political compromises I believe there is a case to revisit the post-Dawkins structure
made in the process of gaining the passage of the legislation of higher education institutions. But it is a case based on the
through the Senate have ameliorated some of the problems emerging need for universities to make more diverse contri-
that would otherwise have been encountered in the transition butions to research and scholarship, and the cost imperative
through to around 2008–2009. What worries me is that it is a for concentration and collaborative use, rather than duplica-
transition in the wrong direction for the future beyond 2011, tion, of expensive research infrastructure. There is no case
when the 15–24 age cohort that has dominated higher edu- for system differentiation solely on the basis of undergraduate
cation participation will be declining not growing, when the student demand.
private rate of return to a Bachelor degree will be diminishing, With regard to stratifying student access, already the signs
and when the imperative won’t be to expand the size of the are ominous. There has been growth of 30% in the number of
system but to encourage people, particularly young people, to non-overseas students starting a higher education course over
participate. the period 1993 to 2003 (see Table 1). The largest component
Raising the amounts and proportions that students have of growth (43%) has been Bachelor degree enrolments but the
to pay is an outdated as well as perverse agenda; it is a kind fastest rate of growth has been in higher degree coursework
of anachronistic flashback to the Dawkins era. In the mid enrolments (122%). Interestingly, higher degree research stu-
1980s demand was escalating and higher levels of skills forma- dent numbers have risen only modestly since 1997. Under-
tion were required. As a result Australia developed the HECS graduate starts as a share of all starts fell from 70% in 1993
scheme as a fair way of sharing the costs between general to 64% in 2003. Non-award commencements almost doubled
taxpayers and private beneficiaries. Yet circumstances have from 6,028 in 2001 to 11,620 in 2003, as universities cut back
changed radically since then. Further increasing the propor- intakes to avoid a flow through to higher over-enrolments,
tion of the costs levied onto new entrants to tertiary educa-
tion now, when the system is entering a period of stagnation Table 1: Commencing Domestic students by level of course
or contraction of demand, will risk serious under-investment from 1993–2003
in the human capital formation that is essential for generating Course Level 1993 2003 Change
the productivity growth we need to sustain living standards as Higher Degree research 8,656 9,130 474 (5.5%)
our population continues to age. Why is it necessary to make Higher Degree coursework 14,214 31,565 17,351 (122%)
such a cost shift now? What is the imperative for it? Why have Other postgraduate 30,818 36,672 5,854 (19%)
we not had a serious investigation and debate of the most Sub total postgraduate 53,688 77,367 23,679 (44%)
important questions?
● What are the basic purposes of our tertiary education Bachelor 133,373 160 219 26,846 (20%)
and training systems and research institutions? Other undergraduate 7,866 6 280 -1,586 (-20%)
● What is the most appropriate scale and shape of the Sub total undergraduate 141,239 166 499 25,260 (18%)
system for meeting future needs?
● What is the appropriate balance between public and Enabling 1,560 5,273 3,713 (238%)
private funding sources for system sustainability? Non Award 4,222 11,620 7,398 (175%)
● What is the appropriate balance between market mech- Total 200,709 260,759 60,050 (30%)
anisms and government regulation for system steering?
Michael Gallagher vol 48, no 1, 2005 11You can also read
