What makes the University enterprise distinct? Mark Considine, Professor of Political Science and Dean of Arts

Today’s Presentation My research background The DNA of the university Internationalisation The Knowledge Economy Academic/industry Dynamics

Abelard to Apple Richard De Millo – The Fate of American Colleges and Universities (MIT Press: 2011) “The idea of the university is ancient. In the eleventh century the first European universities in Bologna and Barcelona, Paris and Padua attracted professors like Galileo and Dante Alighieri…” The European ideal was largely ignored in the US until the middle of the nineteenth century…Until the founding in 1872 of a new private university in Baltimore Universities in the Middle need to find a new way to balance the faculty-centrism that dominates American higher education.

Out of the Dark – the University type What path dependence tells us about institutions – branching points, increasing returns, matrices. Guilds & schools, cities & monasteries. The boundary and the boundary object. The Steve Jobs phenomenon. The global reach of universities.

Global Students Source: Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators 2010 Since 2000, the number of foreign tertiary students enrolled worldwide increased by 85%.

International HE Students: Country of Origin Source: UNESCO Global Education Digest 2010

23.2% over the previous financial year Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics Australia’s Leading Exports,

What Does the University Add? TeachingResearchEngagement Human capital Accreditation Employability / Security / Credibility Cohort mixing Return on investment- lasting qualifications Intellectual curiosity Knowledge for its own sake – intrinsic values Turn passion into a career Apply to the real world Scientific discovery Apply knowledge to the real world Interested in social issues, NGOs Support for professionalism Capacity to collaborate Defend the public interest

Australia’s ‘Enterprise’ Model Regulated competition Old T&R model Disciplinary dominance Limited NPM Divided strategy - Teaching and Research Rise of ‘virtual’ institutes and top-down networks (U 21, etc).

Policy Issues - Steering Quality measurement… UK ‘first mover’ in 1986 – RAE OZ – research block grants; load, completions, research income, pubs (points), previous program payments 2010 ERA begins – shift to discipline ranks, eight clusters, 20% of pubs reviewed, scale of five levels – use of journal quality ratings, A* etc. Disciple ‘bargaining’ results in abandonment for 2012 ERA.

Regulatory confusion Uncapped places – rise in funding Stronger central regulator Profiles for individual Uni’s still in place Continued incentives for international fees Start-stop support for research funding Rise in infrastructure funding Councils/Senates of limited effect

Industry Issues: Autonomy Uni’s are hard to navigate Research works on different time-lines PhDs don’t train our people for collaboration Rewards are solo achievements Uni’s lack structures to incubate collaboration Uni’s fearful of identity ‘drift’.

Policy Design Challenges Rethinking Universities for – Attracting the best talent – Preparing students for new reality – Linking global knowledge networks – Developing ‘new governance’ – Using a cultural model of knowledge generation

Conclusions Need an adapted form of NPM Need stable industry/institute forms Need strong discovery incentives Need more transparent disciplinary governance Need secure community-region identity to offer distinction to global markets

Questions?

The University of Melbourne October 2010 © Copyright The University of Melbourne 2010