{"id":276161,"date":"2021-08-16T07:31:09","date_gmt":"2021-08-16T07:31:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationaus.com\/?p=21314"},"modified":"2021-08-16T07:31:09","modified_gmt":"2021-08-16T07:31:09","slug":"solid-footing-labor-promises-higher-ed-accord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/08\/16\/solid-footing-labor-promises-higher-ed-accord\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Solid footing\u2019: Labor promises higher ed accord"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Labor government would<\/strong> establish a universities accord as part of a new commitment to apply the bipartisan approach enjoyed by defence and national security to the higher education sector.<\/p>\n

The Opposition flagged more legislated funding for universities beyond election cycles and more affordable access for students as potential parts of the move, but will not detail specific education policies until closer to the election.<\/p>\n

Shadow education Minister Tanya Plibersek announced plans for the accord on Monday at the Australian Financial Review’s Higher Education Summit, saying the pandemic had raised \u201cbig questions\u201d for the sector about structure and funding.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe aim of an accord would be to build consensus on key policy questions and national priorities in a sober, evidence-based way, without so much of the political cut and thrust. Building that consensus should help university reform stick,\u201d Ms Plibersek said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are exhausted by politics for politics sake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"
Shadow education Minister Tanya Plibersek. Image: Crawford Forum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The proposed accord would be led by a minister with advice from a \u201csmall group of eminent Australians from across the political spectrum\u201d, and no part of the higher education system will be off limits. It would not apply to earlier parts of the education system.<\/p>\n

Ms Plibersek proposed starting the accord with principles of accessibility, affordability, quality, certainty, sustainability, prosperity.<\/p>\n

The accord would not limit reasonable criticism and accountability of the sector, Ms Pliberek said, and Labor would not suddenly be supporting the current Coalition government\u2019s \u201cattacks on universities\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means putting our university system on a solid footing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernments will naturally have differences in emphasis. Governments would still be free to pursue their priorities, and commit to extra support and resources. But an Australian universities accord would ensure that a higher education system with strong base would be a constant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms Plibersek declined to commit Labor to a demand driven university placement system or increased research funding levels, but pointed to the last Labor government increasing both placements and funding.<\/p>\n

A more sustainable higher education system was critical to diversifying Australia\u2019s national economy, Ms Plibersek said, warning \u201ctinkering around the edges\u201d would not be enough for a thriving post-pandemic economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need world class universities and the research they do to help diversify our economy, to generate new local industries and jobs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the evidence shows that the more skilled and educated Australia is, the more prosperous it will be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The shadow education minister welcomed the push by the federal government to translate research into direct commercial outcomes \u2013 something Labor has also offered bipartisan support on<\/a> \u2013 but echoed the sector\u2019s concerns about too short term a focus<\/a> or it coming at the expense of fundamental research or society and culture studies.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course we want jobs to come from Australian research but that shouldn’t prevent us doing blue sky research and basic research, and allowing people to pursue their own ideas,\u201d Ms Plibersek said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don’t always know how this thing that’s happening today in a laboratory somewhere is going to translate into a new industry or a new innovation, or a new discovery, or a new way of working.\u201d<\/p>\n

The federal government has funded a $6 million scoping study of research commercialisation and is offering grants for universities to partner with industry to produce more \u201cjob-ready\u201d graduates.<\/p>\n

Ms Plibersek said there is a danger this push is more of a \u201cdistraction\u201d than effective reform, and could be used to justify cuts in areas like humanities.<\/p>\n

\u201c[In humanities] we’re not inventing a thing that you can make in a factory tomorrow, but it adds to the sum of human understanding. A too narrow focus on being able to attach a price ticket value sticker to research, I think, means we miss out on things that are really important to us as a society.\u201d<\/p>\n

The post \u2018Solid footing\u2019: Labor promises higher ed accord<\/a> appeared first on InnovationAus<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on InnovationAus<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Labor government would establish a universities accord as part of a new commitment to apply the bipartisan approach enjoyed by defence and national security to the higher education sector. The Opposition flagged more legislated funding for universities beyond election cycles and more affordable access for students as potential parts of the move, but will…<\/p>\n

The post \u2018Solid footing\u2019: Labor promises higher ed accord<\/a> appeared first on InnovationAus<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3272,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33740,22306,428,429,24014],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276161"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3272"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=276161"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276161\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":276437,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276161\/revisions\/276437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276161"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276161"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276161"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}