Universities Accord must be a ‘multi-issue bargain’: Pickering

Incoming Monash University vice-chancellor Sharon Pickering says the Universities Accord needs to be a “multi-issue bargain”.

Incoming Monash University vice-chancellor Sharon Pickering says the Universities Accord needs to be a “multi-issue bargain”. Picture: Chris Eastman

Monash University’s incoming vice-chancellor, Sharon Pickering, said the federal government’s forthcoming Universities Accord review needed to be a “multi-issue bargain” to secure the future of higher education, not just a debate about whether the inter­national student tax currently being considered was desirable or not.

She said Australia had to settle on better long-term funding for higher education.

“The Australian university sector should not be thrown dog biscuits,” she said. “It can’t be done in a piecemeal way.”

Professor Pickering, previously Monash’s deputy vice-chancellor (education), will become vice-­chancellor on ­January 29, replacing Margaret Gardner, who became the Governor of Victoria in August. Professor Pickering said Australian universities operated in an international as well as a domestic market and there had to be awareness of the impact that a tax on international students would have on Australia’s reputation.

“It would be an unusual move to jeopardise that standing,” she said.