The minister is generous from a position of strength

Education Minister Dan Tehan will meet with vice chancellors in three weeks to put guidelines in place for campus freedom of academic inquiry, freedom of speech and freedom for peaceful protest.

In an interview with Sky News yesterday, Mr Tehan emphasised the strong state of cooperation between the government and university leaders in the light of protests among different groups of Chinese students over Hong Kong.

And he spoke up for the sector, talking of the importance of research in driving jobs growth and saying commercialising research, “will turbocharge the economy.”

Mr Tehan’s supportive approach follows university leaders accepting without complaint the principles of the government’s new student growth funding system (CMM August 9).