From the Vice-Chancellor

I thought for a moment, when listening to the Federal Budget, that my ears were deceiving me. After all of these years, was the Government finally putting higher education on the political agenda? Surely not. But there it was, splashed all over the news that night, and the following day, and at least the few days after that. We'd made more than one news cycle, so it wasn't some dream that I would wake from, and for once people actually wanted to know what was happening in higher education and what we thought we should be investing in our country.

I wish every year were an election year.

In reality, regardless of which political party wins the next election, one thing is clear: the Federal Government and the Australian people need to take higher education seriously, for the benefit of our country economically and culturally. For too long in Australia, higher education has been considered a privilege when it should be considered a public good.

In order to do that, we need to grow higher education in Australia. We need to grow the investment in higher education - which is an investment in our future - and we need to grow the participation in higher education. In South Australia, one of the issues we face is raising the participation rate in higher education, because too few students actually complete their secondary education let alone go on to tertiary study. The Budget, despite all of the hoopla about it, does not provide the level of support to students that will ensure the success of those with financial or other challenges.

We also need to ensure that the quality of what Australian universities are providing to students in terms of education and facilities is world-class. I know there's a prevailing attitude in Government that Australian universities should all resemble Harvard. The truth is, the very best universities are able to provide the best education and facilities because of the finances available to them. In Australia, for political, cultural, demographic and historical reasons, the majority of that funding has come from Government. Therefore, Government needs to recognise the importance of its role in sustaining and growing higher education in this country, and assisting Australian universities to be the very best. For example, at this stage there seems to be no political party with a plan to arrest deteriorating student-to-staff ratios. In many discipline areas, Australia has moved (and continues to move) to be among the worst in the developed world.

The fact that the University of Adelaide sees so many of its students year after year winning major scholarships - such as the Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford, the Fulbright Scholarship to US institutions such as Harvard, and the General Sir John Monash Awards to study anywhere in the world - means that we are producing quality, world-class graduates who have the opportunity to excel in their chosen fields.

We are on the right track, but we can always do better. We need to keep higher education on the political agenda beyond an election year. Quality higher education for Australia is not a dream, it's a vision. We have the vision - what we need is a Government that shares that vision.

PROFESSOR JAMES A. McWHA
Vice-Chancellor and President