Insights...
Insights is a new monthly feature of the LH Martin Institute Newsletter, presenting contributed opinion pieces from leaders and experts across the tertiary education sector. Read or subscribe to the LH Martin Institute Newsletters
August Newsletter
Franchising: sinful or virtuous?
The practice of signing up students at one institution and paying for them to be taught at another has had a mixed reception. As a model taken from business, the critics of franchising highlight the threat to academic standards and relationships of trust posed by the advance of the market in higher education. Its defenders point to the contribution made to increasing and widening participation by offering courses ... read full article
Author: Gareth Parry is Professor of Education at the University of Sheffield, UK and a leading scholar on relationships between university and college sectors.
*Prof Parry will be presenting a seminar at the LH Martin Institute on 8 October, titled: 'Franchising higher education in further education colleges: does it widen participation?'
Tracking student outcomes
Currently, in dealing with low SES students, universities often operate like enthusiastic amateurs. They have many bright ideas funded from a myriad of sources. The ideas may have a limited impact and are not easily scaleable to reach large numbers of students; they manifest as interventions within universities to attract and retain students, and externally in university partnerships with schools and VET providers... read full article
Author: Prof Elizabeth Harman is Vice-Chancellor at Victoria University.
Duration of vocational qualifications and quality
When Australia developed and implemented its competency based vocational training system, a significant area of debate and concern for the quality of training occurred in the area of the duration of training. Advocates for competency-based training (CBT) argued, appropriately I believe, that the education and training system was too firmly attached to notions of duration of training rather than the achievement of competency... read full article
Author: Emeritus Professor Richard Carter was formerly Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor and Director TAFE at Victoria University. He is currently an independent consultant.
July Newsletter
Universities must be allowed to set fees
If education ministers can be judged by the average number of policy initiatives per year in office, Julia Gillard will be remembered as a high achiever. But on one key issue—funding per student—her legacy is uncertain. Unlike her two Liberal predecessors, she left the portfolio with real funding per domestic student lower than it had been when she arrived... read full article*
Author: Andrew Norton is a Research Fellow at The Centre for Independent Studies. He has advised a federal minister and a vice-chancellor on higher education issues.
TAFE as distinctively public tertiary education institutions
LH Martin Institute Associate Professor Leesa Wheelahan has been very busy this last year responding to requests to present keynotes and lead seminars on what many conference organisers call the implications of Bradley for VET. The Bradley review was of higher education, but it is a hot topic in vocational education and training for two reasons.... read full article*
Author: Gavin Moodie is principal policy adviser at RMIT. His book From vocational to higher education: an international perspective was published by McGraw-Hill.
June Newsletter
Some Thoughts on Pay-for-Performance in Higher Education
There is something quite beguiling about performance funding. It is relentlessly capitalistic and is largely in accord with the way we think human motivation works. Partly as a result, it has enjoyed several runs of experiment in higher education the U.S. and is currently being mooted as an alternative financing mechanism for the sector across the world. Despite the popularity of pay-for-performance in the policy community, there are at least three reasons why it does not tend to work very well... read full article*
Author: Dr Peter Ewell, Vice-President, National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, US.
Leading with a 'Big Policy Picture'
Why does understanding the `big policy picture’ matter to leaders in tertiary education, and how might we use it to our advantage? Obviously, it gives context to our work. A successful leader will interpret and develop effective institutional responses to important policy issues, while also translating their implications for others. However, the policy environment is complex and distracting. A successful leader is one who can distinguish those issues that merit attention from those which just burn energy... read full article*
Author: Dr Julie Wells, University Secretary and Vice-President, RMIT. Julie heads the Governance and Planning Office, which provides integrated support for governance and strategic and business planning.
* The views expressed in 'Insights' belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect those of LH Martin Institute.