canberra

West: opposed to voucher proposal.

Competition among Australia's 36 public and two private universities is likely to intensify, with funds coming largely through students rather than directly from government, if a review of higher education is accepted by the government.

The review comes as higher education has barely settled down after restructuring initiated 10 years ago, and when it has been has been buffeted by heavy funding cuts. The review says there is “a compelling case for bolstering” research infrastructure, and urges that priorities for university research be “explicitly” based on national goals.

The seven-member review panel was set up last January after the former Education Minister, Amanda Vanstone, was accused of failing to lay out guidelines for universities while requiring them to maintain functions with resources effectively reduced by 10-20 per cent (see Nature 387, 222; 1997).

The wide-ranging review, chaired by Roderick West, a teacher of classics and retired principal of a private school, has set a goal of “universal access” for up to 95 per cent of school-leavers in a “seamless” system of universities and technical colleges. West says that he accepts universities are “hard-pressed” financially, but believes the system can cope with current funding levels if it becomes more flexible and open to market forces.

West wants to encourage an appreciation of ‘Learning for Life’ — the title of the first of the committee's two reports. Like other committee members, he favours granting students ‘learning accounts’ (or ‘vouchers’) to buy places on courses at institutions of their choice. He also talks of separating research funding from teaching.

The present system provides block grants to universities according to government-prescribed numbers of students and courses. Under the panel's proposals, universities would be freed from much government control and allowed to set their own fees. Postgraduates would be given scholarships transferable between universities.

David Kemp, Vanstone's successor after a recent cabinet reshuffle, reduced the political impact of the review by immediately declaring that the Coalition government would not approve a voucher scheme. A proposal for vouchers, which Kemp himself had proposed in opposition, was a major factor in the Coalition's failure to defeat the then Labor government in 1993.