The market as a new steering strategy for Australian higher education

In examining the concept of the "market" in relation to public higher education it is important to consider both its financial and ideological dimensions. In relation to the first dimension, an ongoing challenge faced by governments everywhere is how best to meet the costs of a mass system of higher education. A common policy response has been to pressure the higher education institutions themselves into seeking a greater proportion of their revenue from non-government sources through diversifying their funding base. To reinforce this shift in policy, governments have also sought to develop and implement mechanisms which can be used to differentially reward institutions on the basis of the amount of non-government funding secured. The second dimension of the "market" as it applies to higher education, is, however, far more complex, involving a re-definition of the basic ideological principles under-pinning the relationship between higher education and the state, on the one hand, and higher education and society in general, on the other. The resulting interplay between these financial and ideological dimensions are examined in the context of Australian higher education