Page 980 - Week 03 - Thursday, 3 April 2008
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It is worth noting, as I think the Chief Minister outlined in his remarks, that the wide array of reforms that Professor Parker has put forward have changed the university’s educational offerings and affected its cost structures, its administrative processes, its staffing and its budgeting arrangements. As we have heard, they have led to a more robust approach to dealing with bad and doubtful debts, to dealing with liabilities to the commonwealth and to dealing with its own administrative staff.
The university has commenced a number of major reform projects. We have already heard about the 39-step strategic plan, the development of Australia’s capital university as the marketing strategy, the review of the administrative structure, the review of the university’s courses and disciplines and a campus master planning exercise, which is due to be completed later this month, I understand. It puts forward a range of proposals. I note Mr Mulcahy’s concern about activities that might be deemed non-core for a university, but all of these issues should be canvassed in a master planning process. That is not to say that all of those options will go ahead, but it is important—particularly given the size of the campus, its location and the important role it can play in the Belconnen community and the broader Canberra community—that the university at least considers a wide variety of options as part of this master planning process.
From the extensive list of actions that Professor Parker and his team have begun, it is very clear that they are turning the university around and positioning it very well for a great future. It looks as if these reforms are already starting to have an impact. I understand that the first semester student census date has just been reached. These figures came out only the other day. The university expects that its total student load will be about three per cent higher than expected and its international student enrolment is up 13 per cent. This, I am advised, means that the university will generate an additional $3 million in extra revenue, which will enable UC to reduce the 2007 deficit by half rather than a third.
The university again received funding under the commonwealth’s learning and teaching performance fund, which is designed to reward excellence on seven sets of educational measures. The university’s performance on these measures placed it in the top third of Australian universities. In late 2007, it was informed that it would receive further funding in the 2008 round. As a consequence, UC is now placed in the top 10 Australian universities across the average of relevant measures, which you would have to say is not a bad indication of the current management of the university.
As we all know, the nation is in the grip of a skills crisis. There is no doubt that the cause of that is 11 long years of under-investment by the previous federal Liberal government in education and training. For those 11 years, the ACT Liberals, who profess to care about education, did not say one word against the Howard government that they revered so much. That said, probably the one person who was most reverent of the former government is now sitting on the crossbench. Now that he is not required by party discipline to be so supportive of the Howard government, we will be interested to hear his views as to whether, upon mature reflection, he thinks that maybe they dropped the ball on education and training.
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