The Australian Greens welcome the opportunity to contribute additional comments to the committee report, and thank the witnesses and authors of submissions for their time and expertise.
While the Greens do not oppose the primary legislation itself, we are concerned by the lack of clarity in the bill about factors the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) must consider when determining research quality, and by the extent of the powers delegated to the Minister and TEQSA. We oppose the government's stated intention to use the category title 'University College' for high-performing non-university higher education institutions in the forthcoming instrument.
The Greens value high quality research. It is fair and appropriate to expect high standards of our universities and the research they produce. We believe that the conduct of high-quality research is fundamental to universities, and welcome the Review of the Higher Education Provider Category Standards' (PCS Review) recommendation that '[a]long with teaching, the undertaking of research is, and should remain, a defining feature of what it means to be a university in Australia'. We welcome the government's acceptance of this recommendation.
Delegated legislation
The Greens do not share the committee's view that the extent of delegation of decision-making power in the enabling legislation is proportionate or appropriate, and agree with stakeholders who have expressed concern about this.
While we acknowledge and appreciate commitments from the Department of Education, Skills and Employment and TEQSA to consult with key stakeholders in the development of the regulations, we would echo the comments of the Queensland University of Technology in their submission that:
…it is surely the Senate's prerogative to consider all sides of a complex argument and exercise its legislative authority, when a significant change is on the table that has the very real potential to be materially consequential to the management and perception of the Australian tertiary sector as a whole.
At the very least, the primary legislation should set clear guidelines for the establishment of Threshold Standards in the regulation to ensure appropriate parliamentary oversight and legislative boundaries.
Threshold benchmarks for the quality of research
The Greens share concerns expressed by the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) with respect to the lack of clarity in the primary legislation about how threshold benchmarks of research quality will be developed by TEQSA.
We acknowledge TEQSA's assurances that metrics other than Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) outcomes will be used to determine quality. This commitment should be included in the primary legislation rather than left to the discretion of the Minister and government agencies.
Recommendation
The bill should be amended to ensure that, in developing the instrument determining the quality of research, Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency must:
take into account a variety of qualitative and quantitative factors;
specify the factors taken into account for different discipline areas; and
specify the benchmarks, including weightings, given to different factors.
University Colleges
As the Committee report identifies, many submissions and witnesses were opposed to the government's proposed use of the category title 'University College' for high-performing, non-university higher education providers.
The Greens share the widely-held concerns that using the term 'University College' risks inaccurately redefining what it is to be a university. It is inconsistent to hold that the conduct of research, or a certain quality and quantity of research, are fundamental features of a university, and yet to also enable providers which are not research-active to brand themselves with the word 'university'.
We note that Recommendation 9 of the Provider Category Standards (PCS) Review begins with the statement 'The essential purpose of regulating the nomenclature of institutions via the higher education provider category standards is consumer protection'. It is our view that it is entirely foreseeable that a 'University College' category could cause confusion among prospective students about the standing of a given institution.
The government has not provided sufficient policy rationale for discarding the clear recommendation of the PCS Review to title the category 'National Institute of Higher Education'.
The Greens do not consider the prior existence of an Australian University College category to be a persuasive reason to allow institutions which do not conduct research to refer to themselves using any variation of the word 'university'. Likewise, we do not consider the desire of non-university higher education providers to brand themselves as 'University Colleges' a particularly compelling reason to risk confusion among students and the public and a decline in the perception of university quality.
Recommendation
In drafting the instrument, the government should implement the recommendation of the Provider Category Standards Review to title the non-university category of high-performing higher education institutions as 'National Institute of Higher Education'.
The Greens also note the NTEU's advice that the committee be wary of the potential impact of the increasing focus on short courses and microcredentials on the higher education landscape. The Greens agree that vigilance is required to put an end to the creeping privatisation and deregulation of the university sector.
The Morrison government's cuts to university funding will reverberate through the university sector for years. This is a sector already reeling from the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and decades of austerity. The paltry amount of 'new funding' for research in the 2020–21 budget will not go anywhere near covering the funding shortfall caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and years of funding cuts.
To guarantee the future of high quality research in Australia it is essential that our public universities are well-resourced by the government, that all university staff enjoy secure work and good conditions, and that social, economic and institutional barriers to diversity and inclusion in university education and the field of academia itself are knocked down. Our public universities must be fee-free, well-funded, democratic places of excellence in teaching and research.
Senator Mehreen Faruqi
Member