Will, Emma (SEN)
From:	Gavin.Moodie@vu.edu.au
Sent:	Saturday, 31 March 2001 1:59 PM
To:	eet.sen@aph.gov.au
Subject:	submission to SENATE INQUIRY INTO HIGHER EDUCATION

Margaret

Thank you for your invitation to make a submission to the Senate 
committee’s inquiry into higher education.

1. I believe the most important educational issue for Australia (and 
for several other countries) is the support of lifelong learning.

2. This raises the relationship between the two sectors of tertiary 
education - higher education and vocational education and training - 
since I don’t see how the majority of Australians can be engaged in 
lifelong learning with the current boundaries between the two tertiary 
education sectors.

3.	Yet the terms of reference of this Senate committee inquiry 
restrict it to considering higher education alone.  The previous House 
of Representatives committee inquiry into the role of TAFE considered 
its relationship with higher education specifically to reject an 
integration of the sectors.  I therefore see Parliament maintaining the 
boundaries between the sectors and thus one of the impediments to 
lifelong learning.

4. This present inquiry seems more concerned with the commercialisation 
of higher education.

5. I am a socialist and therefore believe that all institutions, and 
especially education and other ‘public’ services should be owned by the 
public for the public good.  However, within the terms of contemporary 
Australian mainstream policy I can see no difficulty in principle with 
the extensive commercialisation of higher education.

6. Clark Kerr describes the extensive (but not universal) involvement 
of the private sector in US higher education which seems to have 
laudable features ('The American mixture of higher education in 
perspective: four dimensions', Higher Education, 19: 1, 1-19 (1990)).  
And if we accept Michael Gibbons’ idea of mode 2 teaching and research 
the knowledge economy wont develop without tertiary education being 
involved extensively and intensively in commerce (Gibbons, M, Limoges, 
C, Nowotny, H, Schwarzman, S, Scott, P and Trow, M (1994) The new 
production of knowledge: the dynamics of science and research in 
contemporary societies, London: Sage).  

7. Consistent with this, I believe that the present inquiry should note 
current developments with interest but otherwise not interfere with 
them, for I see no prospect of even the Labor Party supporting the re-
orientation of ostensibly public universities and funding them fully 
with progressive income, wealth and probate taxes.  

Gavin Moodie
31 March 2001

----- Original Message -----
From: "Blood, Margaret (SEN)" <Margaret.Blood@aph.gov.au>
Date: Monday, March 26, 2001 2:16 pm
Subject: SENATE INQUIRY INTO HIGHER EDUCATION

> 
> Dear Addressee
> 
> I am a research officer with the Senate Committee conducting the 
> inquiryinto higher education. You were identified as a person with 
> professionalexpertise and interest in higher education who may be 
> interested in making a
> submission to the inquiry.
> 
> I am therefore attaching, for your information, documents relating 
> to the
> inquiry's terms of reference and procedures for submissions. 
> 
> The Committee has agreed to a program of public hearings in 
> various states
> and territories.  It will decide on witnesses for each hearing  
> once it has
> reviewed the submissions that have been received.  Submissions 
> need not be
> long - 3 to 4 pages would be enough in most cases. 
> 
> Please contact me on 02 62773524 or email at eet.sen@aph.gov.au if 
> you have
> any questions. 
> 
> 
> The closing date for submissions is 31 March 2001. If you wish to 
> make a
> submission and cannot meet this deadline please contact me to 
> discuss. I
> would also be grateful if you could pass this information on to 
> others you
> know who may be interested in the inquiry.
> 
> Hearings Program
> 
> 
> 26 April		Hobart:  Higher Ed. Inquiry
> 
> 30 April		Darwin:  Higher Ed. Inquiry, UNT and Batchelor
> Institute
> 
> 14-15 May		Melbourne: Higher Education inquiry
> 
> 22 June			Canberra:  Higher Ed. Inquiry, Room 
2S1, Parliament
> House
> 
> 2-3 July	Adelaide and Whyalla:  Higher Ed. Inquiry, University of
> Adelaide and USA
> 
> 5 July	Perth:  	Higher Ed. Inquiry, (possibly ECU and 
Murdoch
> University)
> 
> 12-13 July	Regional Queensland:  Higher Ed. inquiry,(possibly UCQ
> Rockhampton and JCU Townsville)
> 
>        ]
> 17-18 July	Sydney: Higher Education inquiry
> 
> 19 July		Newcastle: Higher Education inquiry
> 
> 
> 
> <<submission notes.doc>>  <<Terms of Ref.doc>>  <<Higher Ed
> Advertisement.doc>>  
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Margaret Blood
> Principal Research Officer
> Senate Employment Workplace Relations Small Business and Education 
> Committeeph 02 62773524
> email at eet.sen@aph.gov.au
> 
> 
> 
> Margaret Blood
> Principal Research Officer
> Senate Employment Workplace Relations Small Business and Education 
> Committeeph 02 62773524
> email at eet.sen@aph.gov.au
> 
> Margaret Blood
> Principal Research Officer
> Senate Employment Workplace Relations Small Business and Education 
> Committeeph 02 62773524
> email at eet.sen@aph.gov.au
> 
> 
> 
>