Universities will find out if their hopes in Labor were misplaced

Universities hope Labor will see the benefits they bring

Universities got what they earnestly wished for when the ­Coalition was defeated in May. They saw the Morrison government as the culmination of a ­Coalition disdain for higher education which, they believed, grew steadily through its period in office from 2013 onwards.

When Anthony Albanese won the election, the common refrain was “At last universities are being listened to, not treated like ­pariahs”.

The question now, with Jason Clare’s newly announced higher education review, is whether universities will find Labor brings them long-term fulfilment, or whether they have pinned their hopes on a mirage.

Certainly there will be no deluge of dollars for universities under Labor. That was clear well before the May election.

Instead, Labor has pitched the review and eventual “accord”, as a Bob Hawke-like consensus – across the political spectrum, business and the community in general – on what universities’ role is in our society and a broad agreement on the resources required to fulfil that role.

Changes that come out of the review, run by former NSW chief scientist and one-time University of Adelaide vice-chancellor Mary O’Kane, will not arrive quickly.

The review’s final report will not lob until the end of next year.

This means things that universities currently find extremely frustrating, such as the cut in funding for expensive-to-run engineering courses under the ­Coalition’s Job Ready Graduates scheme, will not change quickly.

Nor will any boost to research funding appear soon, if ever.

The Job Ready Graduates scheme effectively cut research funding by reducing teaching funding. In the past, universities were able to subsidise their research program from teaching money. Since 2021, when Job Ready Graduates commenced, this has been restricted.

Universities want research to be separately and adequately funded but that will cost money that the Albanese government may not have.

It could be that, for universities, the O’Kane review amounts to a long wait for not very much.

Universities will certainly tell the review, as they have been telling the government, that they are not mendicant institutions, they are here to help.

They will also be pointing to the problems that their researchers solved during the pandemic and the problems they can solve in the future around climate change, energy and building a self-reliant Australian economy.

They will also be emphasising that they are key to solving skill shortages by training more ­people in key areas.

This principle, that universities are producers of benefit, not just consumers of resources, is the one they hope will be accepted by the government when the review finally reports, and lead to an adequately funded university sector that government, business and the community recognise as a partner.