The Group of Eight wants the higher education Provider Category Standards to continue to defend the quality of the existing system by ensuring “university” applies to institutions, “that have attained sufficiently high standards of quality.”

“This is appropriate in the Australian context as the title represents the benchmark of quality which the broader regulatory and quality assurance architecture is designed to facilitate and protect,” the Eight asserts in its submission to the Coaldrake Review of HE Provider Category Standards (CMM December 10 2018 and  CMM March 11).

And quality inevitably requires research. “It is critical in the context of what it means to be a university to research, and to research training in particular, that universities undertake research in a range of fields and that research training is delivered in a large, comprehensive, and supportive university environment.”

However the Go8 also argues the provider standards need to be assessed in the broader context of the Australian Qualification Framework, now being reviewed by Peter Noonan (CMM February 19).  “Australia is past a point where we can no longer afford to consider elements of post-secondary education in isolation form one another.”

The Eight accordingly suggest the PCS could create a class of institution that cover both VET and higher education, warning “regulatory architecture, ” including the CPS, “have contributed barriers and disincentives for institutions to engage in that section of the marketplace.”

“These types of providers will be an essential component in the post secondary education system that will develop the technical skills base of the future in a disrupted economic environment.”