In 2023, a panel appointed by the federal government will be conducting a much-needed review of Australia’s higher education system. The recommendations of the panel, led by Professor Mary O’Kane, will feed into the Australian Universities Accord that the federal government has committed to implementing.
It is timely, then, that Sydney University Press has just published a book titled Australian Universities: A Conversation About Public Good. The book is edited by Julia Horne and Matthew A.M. Thomas and features essays by over 20 authors reflecting on different aspects of the role of public universities in Australia’s economy and society. The book is full of ideas about how Australian universities can better advance the public good, and should be compulsory reading for Accord panel members.
One of the key areas for review outlined in the terms of reference for the Accord panel is "Investment and Affordability". Here the panel has been asked to “Explore funding and contribution arrangements that deliver equity, access, quality and longer-term investments to meet priorities in teaching, research, workforce and infrastructure” and will explicitly review the controversial Job-ready Graduates Package instituted by the previous federal government.
My contribution to the conversation in the book focuses directly on funding arrangements for Australian university students. I take a political economy approach that places university funding within changing economic, budgetary and policy contexts. The main contribution of the chapter is to identify eight distinct logics that are bundled together in the architecture of fees, loans and grants that finance the education of Australian university students [...]
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