Merging WA’s universities an ‘appalling idea’: ECU vice chancellor

Edith Cowan University’s vice chancellor has lashed an “appalling” idea to merge Western Australia’s four major tertiary institutions to create a “super-university”.

Professor Steve Chapman’s comments came after WA chief scientist Peter Klinken proposed the idea to amalgamate ECU, the University of Western Australia, Curtin University, and Murdoch University to form a single entity in Perth.

Professor Francis Campbell, Professor Amit Chakma, Professor Steve Chapman, Professor Harlene Hayne and Professor Romy Lawson.Credit: CEDA

Professor Klinken believed the move would be more viable and support better world rankings for the state’s tertiary sector.

However, Professor Chapman blasted the idea at vice chancellors’ panel on Wednesday at an event hosted by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia.

“Peter’s analysis is superficial and flawed – it seems the main argument he’s making for a super university in Perth is that it will raise us in the league table to be in the top 50,” he said.

“In the top 25 universities, only one of those universities is bigger than our biggest university Curtin – that’s Toronto – so it’s nothing to do with size.”

Professor Chapman said making a big university would not guarantee any league table position, and there was no evidence to prove otherwise.

The argument that a high league table position attracted more students was “a myth”, Professor Chapman said, noting ECU had been growing “tremendously”, and “our league table position is much lower than other universities that have not been growing”.

What upset Professor Chapman the most was very little in the argument for the merger was about the students, their experience, and what the role of a university was.

“I believe, and all the vice chancellors here, believe that we’re here to transform students to give them a place in society, to make them good citizens, to get them good jobs, we want to make them rounded individuals,” he said.

“That’s nothing to do with intake. The good thing about universities in Western Australia is that they have a diversity of culture.”

There are students who want to go to ECU who wouldn’t think of going to UWA, Professor Chapman said, and the idea of a homogenous, one-culture university in WA was “appalling”.

Professor Chapman said a way to cater further to students’ needs was moving towards year-round campuses.

With travel restrictions and an increase in online tertiary education, WA universities are having to compete more than ever before for students from around the world.

But Murdoch vice chancellor Romy Lawson said international students still wanted to come to Australia and New Zealand – particularly WA – and universities were diversifying their offerings to cater to those who had to remain overseas for the time being.

“We’re getting 60 per cent of our international students opting to start their courses online rather than defer, which is quite encouraging,” she said.

“We’ve opened opportunities to students to start your degree in Singapore and finish it in Australia, or start it in Singapore and do the middle bit in Dubai and finish it in Australia, and that is such a rich experience that we can offer to international students.”

Curtin vice chancellor Harlene Hayne said the university currently had more international students studying at one of its four campuses around the world than in Australia.

“The reason for that is students don’t actually necessarily want to study online, they want to come and study with their peers,” she said.

WA universities have taken a financial hit as a result of the COVID pandemic, due mainly to a loss of international students, but the panel did not think finding ways to commercialise their research was a tangible solution.

“We need to start ranking unis by the quality of the education that they produce, rather than their economic contribution”

Curtin vice chancellor Harlene Hayne

Professor Hayne said while there were examples around the world where universities had discovered a piece of technology or had a great piece of intellectual property they had been able to generate income from, those were few and far between.

She said the university was a school and its research should be done in the service of educating students rather than creating material to keep the business going.

“We need to start ranking and considering our universities on the basis of the quality of the education that they produce, rather than all these other markers that are tied to their economic contribution,” Professor Hayne said.

While the last two years had been tough for all universities, Professor Chapman said there had been plenty of positives, especially when it came to culture.

“Culture at our university has improved because of COVID,” he said. “The critical thing for keeping that culture was clear communication to staff and not hiding the scale of the issue.”

Addressing the 15,000 jobs lost in the sector, Professor Hayne said everyone did what they had to do to balance the books, however it wasn’t sustainable much longer.

“It’s not good for people to come to work at any of these places on a daily basis and wonder when that pink slip is coming,” she said.

“In spite of or in addition to all of the fantastic things that universities have been able to do, there will come a point where we just can’t do any more. Get yourself vaccinated … so that we can get back to the world that we all enjoy.”