Grey days ahead for academe

THE ageing of the population is a concern across Western nations.

THE ageing of the population is a concern across Western nations.

It is especially significant in large parts of western Europe and Japan. Australia isn't immune from the phenomena but, compared with some of our developed world partners, government policy in recent decades has worked towards helping to avoid a crisis in the future.

Australia's fertility rate (the correct title is actually fecundity but nobody uses that descriptor) has improved in step with initiatives such as the baby bonus and improved paid maternity schemes. And John Howard managed to substantially increase Australia's immigration intake during his time as prime minister, even if both main parties today are squibbing on this important policy lever to address ageing.

But one area where ageing in this nation is as big a concern as it is in other parts of the world, if not more so, is in the higher education sector. As the chairman of Universities Australia, Peter Coaldrake, noted in his National Press Club address in March last year: "In many Western countries, with ageing populations and budget pressures, higher education is struggling to be heard."

But it isn't just the competing issues jostling for the government's attention that makes ageing something that the higher education sector needs to look closely at, as the professor rightly notes. Academics are the second oldest profession in this country after farmers, and many PhD students, who should be the academics of tomorrow in training, find themselves drawn into other careers before genuine opportunities for an academic career present.

While the Howard government was very good at planning for the ageing of the population in this country more broadly, it made no plans whatsoever for what happens next when the academy ages.

During the first 10 years of Howard's prime ministership, funding within the university sector stagnated in real terms, which says it all, while across our Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development competitor countries it increased by nearly 50 per cent.

When university funding is squeezed, the first thing people notice is larger undergraduate class sizes and greater teaching pressures on academics who are also expected to research.

But perhaps the first area of academe to really suffer is postgraduate study. Scholarship options tighten. Research grants aren't as accessible.

Opportunities for mentoring dry up. In short, the training ground for the next generation of lecturers and professions loses its quality edge.

Once upon a time associate lecturer was a title that PhD students simultaneously carried. They tutored for their supervisor and felt as if they were truly part of the department. They also had full-time employment in the department within which they were studying. It was a true training ground for a long-term academic career, and an incentive to stay put.

But today sessional teaching is as good as it gets for wannabe academics in tight budgeting times. And, because of that, highly trained graduates choose other career options, sometimes in lieu of studying for a PhD, sometimes while doing so. The net effect is a loss of personnel to take over the jobs of our ageing academic workforce.

That has forced universities to start thinking outside the square, looking to people who don't have doctorates, part-time roles with industry partners, even a greater focus on recruitment from overseas. These are solutions, to be sure, but as a sector we need to think carefully about how to co-ordinate this approach so it results in good long-term planning rather than short-term Band-Aid solutions.

Peter van Onselen is a Winthrop professor at the University of Western Australia.