Originally published in The Australian

In the run up to the last election, Labor made big transformative promises about the higher education sector.  Foreshadowing what became the Universities Accord, the then Shadow Minister for Education Tanya Plibersek positioned Labor as establishing a once-in-a-generation transformation of higher education, rising above the party political fray; they would “stop the bickering”, “dial down the politics” and “end the uncertainty” for students and the sector.

After the election, Jason Clare echoed those sentiments when he announced the Accord. He was focused on “resetting the relationship” between government and the sector; “rebuilding” international education and “make real long-lasting change” to improve equity and stability for universities and their students.

There have certainly been some positives.  20,000 new government-funded places were created for equity students, although those places expire for next year’s commencements. The introduction of “prac payments” for some students undertaking practicals as part of their studies is a welcome relief for those students, although the eligibility net could have been cast wider. The reform of the Australian Research Council to remove political interference in decision-making is likewise welcome.

But the reality of the past three years has been very different from the promises of the Accord.  Instead of greater stability, support and transparency, universities face increased uncertainty, increased bureaucracy and micromanagement, and ever-greater politicisation of the sector.

Imagine a situation in which a government – any government – introduced export caps on individual companies in the resources sector, with no consultation with the sector on those caps, and hadn’t modelled the impact of the caps on GDP or on jobs. This is the situation higher education faces, our largest non-resource based export industry.

Universities are often criticised for their reliance on international student revenue, but the reality is that this revenue is used to a large degree to make up for underfunding of research. Australian government funding of research and development is around a third lower than the OECD average, and less than a third of that goes to universities.

There is certainly a conversation to be had in Australia about the level of internationalisation we want in our universities and the impacts that might have on housing and the economy. But arbitrary restrictions – first through ministerial dictat and then through proposed, though ultimately unsuccessful, legislation – is not the kind of conversation the Accord promised.

Universities also face increased government reporting and oversight on a range of issues from student support to preventing gender-based violence, despite an existing regulatory framework that already addressed these issues.  In the absence of better funding, this can only divert more resources from student-facing activities to increased compliance obligations.

And while the headline intent of the Accord was to support increased participation and outcomes, particularly for equity students, the funding mechanism to achieve this has yet to be announced. Proposals that were released for consultation earlier this year, however, did not inspire, with further increased bureaucracy and reporting.  Realistically, any revised funding mechanism is unlikely to be implemented before 2027 at the earliest.

The next parliamentary term hence looks to be one of peak uncertainty for universities, and the students that we exist to serve. We know the bad: drastic cuts in revenue through restrictions on international students. But we have no certainty about the potential good: new funding mechanisms to support equity and growth ambitions.

In such circumstances, it is little surprise that many universities have already announced significant cuts and jobs losses. 

As we enter the next election cycle, we need to stop using higher education as a political football for debates over immigration.  We need certainty over funding so that we can continue to deliver the world class education and research of which Australia is rightly proud. We need to trust universities to deliver this without constant bureaucracy and reporting, while also of course still holding them accountable for outcomes.

We need a Universities Accord.