Universities don’t like the government’s plan – but changes could make it manageable

The bill to give the Federal Government oversight of universities international agreements was in the House yesterday, where Labor’s Richard Marles acknowledged its importance but moved the government redraft it, to deal with anomalies and address the “huge compliance task (that) is now being placed upon the universities.”

This isn’t going to happen there but universities in NSW have proposed amendments that could appeal to Opposition, Greens and cross-bench Senators.

Observers suggest they are being presented as accepting the intent of the bill while making more manageable the administrative task for universities. This could be done by applying the bill to new, not existing, Australian university arrangements with international institutions and exempting agreements that are not legally binding – “just how many MOUs can an official read?” a learned reader remarks.

Universities also propose simplifying processes, one possibility would be only requiring universities to advise the government when negotiations are agreed, not when discussions start, another to put a time-limit on a minister rejecting a deal.

Such changes would go a ways to address some of the main concerns that research-strong and tech-focused universities have with the bill. “They don’t like it but if the admin burden is reduced they will live with,” an observer suggests.