Australian Tertiary Education Commission kicks off funding review

As the new tertiary education commission unveils its to-do list, one university vice-chancellor says efforts to enrol more students from poor backgrounds aren’t working.

Western Sydney University vice-chancellor Professor George Williams, pictured at his university’s food pantry for struggling students, has warned that $50,000 arts degrees are turning disadvantaged students away from study. He is pictured with Student Community Program Co-ordinator Miranda Zhang and student Richard Xu. Picture: Wendy Chung

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A “modest and pragmatic” Australian Tertiary Education Commission started work on Tuesday, to shake up funding and force collaboration between the squabbling sectors of university and vocational education.

ATEC’s terms of reference spell out its priorities to harmonise the university and TAFE sectors, introduce needs-based funding, and upskill the workforce by enrolling more disadvantaged students in tertiary study or training.

Interim chief commissioner Mary O’Kane, who chaired the Albanese government’s Universities Accord last year, described ATEC as “the higher education whisperer for the nation’’, saying: “Unless we have the right skills, we won’t have the economy or the society we want.

“This is really about growing the skills base enormously.’’

Professor O’Kane said universities and vocational training colleges needed to change their entry mechanisms if they were to meet ambitious targets to enrol more students into higher education.

“It’s not just about people going to school and going on to higher ed, it’s about people being able to come back in to do university later in life,’’ she said.

“It’s about going through different pathways … so people who have done really good courses at TAFE go to university, and the other way around.’’

Mary O’Kane is the interim chief commissioner of the Australian Tertiary Education Commission.

Jobs and Skills Australia commissioner Barney Glover, who has also been appointed a commissioner of the interim ATEC, said a priority would be to “match up our skills and our jobs’’.

“We’ve got to get the balance right between higher education and VET (vocational education and training),’’ Professor Glover said. “We need a joined-up tertiary education system and we need to better match our skills from our education and training into our job market.’’

Jobs and Skills Australia commissioner Barney Glover has been appointed to the ATEC. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Indigenous academic Larissa Behrendt has been appointed to the ATEC.

Education Minister Jason Clare said ATEC would strike federal funding agreements with individual universities, and advise him on the real cost of providing different degrees.

“Not every university needs to be the same or do the same thing, and ATEC will be critical in that,’’ he said.

Mr Clare said he was “getting the band back together’’ by appointing Accord authors Professor O’Kane, Professor Glover and Larissa Behrendt, who will be the interim First Nations commissioner.

ATEC will be based within the federal Education Department until the federal government introduces legislation to make it a permanent statutory body.

The terms of reference for the interim ATEC describe it as “modest and pragmatic in scope’’.

It will consult with state and territory governments before advising the federal government on reforms to research, as well as teaching and learning for domestic and international students.

Federal Education Minister Jason Clare says he is “getting the band back together’’. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire

The interim ATEC was launched at Western Sydney University, where vice-chancellor ­George Williams called for changes to the controversial Job Ready Graduates program, which made arts and law degrees more expensive for students while cutting the cost of teaching, nursing and information technology degrees in a bid to plug skills gaps.

Professor Williams said many students could not afford to pay $50,000 for an arts degree.

“That’s actively dissuading our students from studying at university,’’ he said.

“We’ve seen 10-15 per cent decreases in the number of students from low SES (socio-economic status) and also equity backgrounds, such as first in family coming to university.

“This marks the opportunity to start fixing a broken system so that every student, irrespective of their postcode or background, has the opportunity of a world-class university education.’’

The ATEC commissioners met on Tuesday with Universities Australia chief executive Luke Sheehy, who sought a “a strong, ongoing partnership to ensure the long-term stability, planning and funding certainty of the sector’’.