The federal government is open for business on substantial, practical and evidence-led reform in higher education

 by JOHN BYRON

Yesterday federal Minister for Education, Hon Jason Clare, gave the keynote address to the Australian Financial Review Higher Education Summit in Sydney, and made a couple of fairly consequential announcements. The headline item was that he has commission a small panel chaired by Professor Margaret Sheil, QUT Vice-Chancellor (and my boss), to conduct the government’s foreshadowed review of the Australian Research Council (ARC). Margaret will be joined by Professor Susan Dodds, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research & Industry Engagement) at La Trobe University, and Professor Mark Hutchinson, Director of the Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics and Professor of Medicine at the University of Adelaide.

Less prominent but equally consequential for many academics’ working weeks over the coming year was his accompanying announcement that he has instructed the ARC to discontinue preparations for the 2023 round of the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) exercise, on the grounds that ERA extracts a significant effort from government and universities alike, and is in need of reform. The Minister has asked the ARC to deliberate, consult and come back to him with ideas for a leaner, data-driven approach, informed by peer review.

CMM readers may recall that I called for a pause to ERA in these pages back in April, on the basis that ERA has now realised the lion’s share of its potential. In its day, ERA drove a profoundly important shift in the orientation of Australian university research from a preoccupation with quantity to a serious focus on quality. The achievement of this objective over the last dozen years is demonstrated by our sector’s global performance improvement over that period, on any measure you care to name. But the effect has now virtually plateaued, and it is no longer that additional benefit is on offer from another iteration of this considerable investment of effort and resources.

I mention this not to take any credit – as I wrote back then, a lot of people had been talking along these lines for a while. It is an idea whose time has come. The credit goes to the minister, whose considered decision is the product of his inclination to take soundings, listen to experience and advice, respond to reasoned argument, and deliberate with seriousness of purpose.

This bodes well not only for the future of ERA – whatever that turns out to be – but also for the ARC Review and the wider Australian Universities Accord process. Yesterday’s announcements signal that the federal government is open for business on substantial, practical and evidence-led reform in higher education, in consultation with the sector and other engaged stakeholders. It is now up to us to respond in kind by informing those processes with constructive, creative and achievable ideas for improvement.

Dr John Byron is Principal Policy Adviser at QUT