Higher
Education
Forum
Minutes
Item
No
1.
2.
3.
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Wednesday 15 April 2009
2:00pm–4:00pm (Coffee at 1.30pm)
Boardroom, Level 12
Education House
30 Mary Street, Brisbane
Topic
Welcome and Introductions
The Minister for Education and Training, the Hon Geoff Wilson MP introduced
himself to members and welcomed all present for attending. An attendance list
is attached.
The Minister outlined the importance of the meeting as a forum to discuss
higher education views and recognised the A/Director General, his Education
Advisor and other government attendees. The Minister gave a brief account of
his background, including the merits of his state schooling which he directly
attributed to his progression to university and resulting career.
The Minister advised of his wish to engage with stakeholders on key issues
and achieve practical outcomes by ensuring that we have long term strategic
plans as well as short term goals.
Prof Coaldrake stated his hope that this forum could assist the Minister, and
noted that universities in Queensland worked in a collaborative manner even
though they were competitors. He also stressed the importance of the linkages
between training and education that have been introduced and thanked the
Minister for his interest in this group.
Apologies
An apology was received from Professor Greg Craven – ACU.
Minutes Confirmation
Members confirmed the minutes of the meeting of the Higher Education
Forum (HEF) held on 9 December 2008.
Role of the Higher Education Forum
The role of the HEF has been to discuss strategic higher education policy with
Vice-Chancellors to ascertain their views on matters including proposed policy
at Commonwealth or State level and determine the impact it may have on
universities and the State. Members’ opinions are sought to assist
Queensland policy development and to respond to Commonwealth matters.
The Minister sought the views of members regarding the role of the forum and
noted its work may be complemented by briefings from the department
regarding the work of the government.
Members discussed the merits of a sub-committee comprising Deputy ViceChancellors and other alternative sub-groups such as topic specific working
groups. The Minister was of the view that arrangements that allowed members
to discuss issues in advance with relevant personnel in their universities would
be a more effective way of achieving outcomes and reaching consensus.
It was noted that the HEF was the only opportunity for Vice Chancellors to get
together, which they felt was invaluable as there was no other forum to
discuss such matters. Other states have forums for discussion between ViceChancellors but do not have the same opportunity to meet with Ministers.
The importance of knowing agenda items and outcomes from MCEETYA and
COAG meetings was discussed. It was noted there was currently no formal
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avenue for Vice-Chancellors to be apprised of this information or the
Queensland governments view on such matters.
Outcome
Members agreed to the following regarding working groups:
 delegation of certain topics to topic/area specific working groups that would
be established as required and would report to the HEF.
Members agreed to the following regarding the HEF:
 meetings to be held one month prior to MCEETYA /new Tertiary Council
meetings;
 staff of the Office of Higher Education (OHE) to provide information
regarding MCEETYA topics and identify topics relevant to the HEF agenda;
 agenda topics to be canvassed prior to the HEF so that members could
come to the HEF already briefed by relevant personnel to reduce lag time
on issues;
 members to provide topics for the agenda which would be requested by the
Office of Higher Education in advance;
 Vice-Chancellors to meet one hour prior to the HEF at Education House to
provide an opportunity for caucusing views regarding agenda items and to
identify topics for Other Business;
 referral of identified topics to topic/area specific working groups established
as required;
 working groups to comprise relevant university representatives nominated
by HEF members and government members where appropriate;
 working groups will prepare papers and report to the HEF.
Business Arising
The Minister asked members how they wished to action ‘business arising’
from the previous meeting. It was noted that these items were usually updates
regarding progress rather than items requiring action. It was suggested that a
status report be provided rather than business arising for discussion. The
Minister encouraged members to discuss matters with Ian Kimber and his
colleagues between meetings.
Members agreed to the following regarding ‘business arising’:
 a report regarding the status of agenda items be prepared by the OHE to
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provide an ‘update’ to members rather than being discussed as business
arising.
Australian Government Higher Education Reforms
The Minister drew members’ attention to the attachment sent with the agenda
that outlined the key announcements by the Deputy Prime Minister regarding
the Australian Government Higher Education Reforms. The Minister noted six
of the reforms and sought members’ views on the impact of the reforms on
their individual universities and on higher education in the state.
(a) Setting a target of at least 40 percent of all 25-34 year olds attaining a
bachelor level qualification or above by 2025
The Minister noted that Queensland currently has a Q2 target to achieve a
target of 75% of people aged between 25 and 64 to hold a qualification of
Certificate III or above.
Members responded to the Minister’s concern regarding their university’s
capacity and strategic intentions for student growth arising from such targets
by stating that universities were currently experiencing unmet demand with
places currently unfilled in some courses. However, members highlighted that
universities cannot drive demand to achieve these targets as it is known that
students made decisions about attending university from as early as Year 4.
Members suggested that this was an opportunity for the department to
take a lead role in developing links between middle and secondary
schooling to highlight the benefits of attending university.
Whilst members agreed that the government’s strong media campaign
regarding the training sector was needed, similar linkages with the schooling
sector and media campaigns were needed to achieve the targets set by the
Queensland and Australian governments.
It was suggested that the Queensland government consider including a
separate bachelor target.
(b) A demand driven entitlement model for funding all Australian universities
from 2012
The Minister stated that he was concerned that there may be potential adverse
affects for regional universities in Queensland due to enrolment decline under
the demand-driven system and also potential adverse affects in addressing
professional skills shortages in Queensland that could arise from decreased
enrolments in particular courses.
Members responded noting that impacts for regional universities were not all the
same and that the government should be careful not to group them as one but
instead note the individual distinctions between universities. Universities such as
JCU did not believe that the demand driven model would cause any financial
viability issues.
It was also noted that there would be no generalisation across universities
regarding the expansion or reduction of enrolments due to the demand driven
model, rather universities will undertake options based on their own
circumstances.
Increasing demand
Members reiterated that universities cannot drive demand and that the higher
education sector should not focus solely on school leavers. Mature age students
should also be targeted in any campaign to increase enrolments at universities to
achieve the stated targets for increasing higher education qualifications. In some
Queensland universities, only 20% of enrolments are from school leavers and
only one in four school leavers apply for a university place. Members did not
want to lose sight of the considerable amount of bridging work that has been
conducted to help mature age students commence study at university. In
determining whether demand has increased or fallen recently, members noted
that the data showed that actual numbers have not declined, but student load
has. The key factor to be considered is whether this is due to system factors,
institutional factors or a symptom of the current economic environment.
Members suggested that this was an opportunity for the Queensland
government to adopt a leadership approach to integrate education sectors
and drive demand in tertiary education by targeting students early during
their schooling years. They agreed that strategies aimed at raising the
awareness, ambition and motivation of students were needed; and would
require involvement from parents, peers and teachers.
Action - Departmental
Members suggested that it would be useful to obtain relevant data to
inform discussions regarding increasing higher education demand. It was
noted that data relating to demand in other states would be useful. The
Minister agreed that we should utilise current data or obtain other relevant
data.
Collaboration
The Minister sought the views of members regarding competitive models for
universities and whether collaboration was possible in such a competitive
environment.
Members agreed that collaboration amongst universities was currently in place
even though they were competitors, but that strategic choices had to be made to
achieve viable options. A language consortium operating in Queensland was
cited as testament to collaboration in Queensland. Success was noted as being
due to recognition between universities. Members advised that other states such
as Victoria had not been successful in implementing similar language consortia
due to lack of migrant community acceptance of the approach to offer languages
across universities.
Other collaborative agreements mentioned included approaches to promoting
Indigenous participation in the tertiary sector, and co-operative arrangements to
achieve the desired access to and effectiveness of higher education in the
regions.
The concept of a National Regional University as outlined in the Bradley Review
was also discussed noting the Commonwealth had neither dismissed nor
accepted the proposal at this point.
(c) The National Regulatory Body
The Minister asked members if they had any concerns with the proposal for a
national regulatory body and in particular the packaging of the Australian
Universities Quality Agency (AUQA) into this body.
A concern was raised regarding the part time nature of officers at AUQA and that
full time commissioners should be utilised to ensure they had time to focus on
gaining best practice knowledge. The process nature of the current format of
AUQA was also raised, noting that governance of such a national body would be
critical and should include people from the sector and business with an external
perspective.
(d) Setting a target of 20% of higher education enrolments at undergraduate
level from people from low SES backgrounds by 2020
The Minister recognised that Queensland institutions currently have good
enrolment rates for people from low SES backgrounds, with at least three
institutions currently exceeding the proposed target. Caution was needed with
regard to implementation of this reform to ensure that these efforts were not
diluted and that this reform did not drive a concentration of low SES enrolments
in particular institutions.
The lack of recognition of current achievements was disappointing to members
and many were of the view that the reform should not be about bringing others
up to the proposed standard, but also rewarding those that have already
achieved above the target. The definitions and funding models need to be
defined as currently performance data changes based on a change of definition
rather than a change in achievement. Members again expressed concern about
treating all universities in the same manner and were of the view that Compacts
may be used to the detriment of institutions.
Members suggested that the current determinant of using postcodes
should be altered as it was an inappropriate defining factor.
(e) Expanding the ambit of Skills Australia to encompass the full scope of
Australia's labour market needs, to give advice to the Commonwealth
about the effectiveness of both the university and VET systems in meeting
the broad range of Australia's skill needs
The Minister advised that the government needed to address challenges
regarding labour market needs by planning appropriately. Boom/bust cycles are
normal and should be included in planning.
It was noted that student preferences are quite predictable over time regardless
of outside factors. Members expressed concern about how to influence people’s
career preferences to align with skills shortages. The demand driven model could
skew the landscape even further. With regard to demand in relation to skills
shortages, it was noted that the Deputy Prime Minister had flagged the use of
public interest overlays to curtail such issues.
Members suggested that building pathways to postgraduate professions is
an important consideration when considering skills shortages.
7.
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Creation of a single tertiary education sector ministerial council.
All members agreed with the proposal for a single tertiary education ministerial
council.
Overall members agreed that the findings of the Bradley Review were beneficial
and had been well researched.
Priority issues for further action/referral to working groups
 Increasing higher education demand, including developing links between
higher education and middle and secondary schooling to highlight the
benefits of attending university.
 Contributing to the definition of terms such as ‘regional’ which are vital in
the Queensland context.
 Developing models to foster collaboration, including cross-sectoral
approaches, in increasing participation and attainment.
 Further analysis of Q2 targets to establish a separate bachelor target as
a subset of the overall attainment target.
 Obtaining and analysing relevant data to inform strategies regarding the
Bradley and Q2 targets, including comparative data with other states.
 Building pathways to professions, including determining how to influence
people’s career preferences to align with skills shortages.
Other Business:
There was no time remaining to discuss other business.
Close
The Minister thanked members for their contribution to discussions and looked
forward to future meetings. The meeting closed at 4pm.