Education in its many forms

Diversity is the latest education ‘buzz’ word. The Minister’s calls for greater diversity amongst Australian universities have been gradually accelerating in recent weeks. However it seems clear that a pre-curser for such diversity is removal of the straight jacket of regulation. Diversity is remarkably difficult when the Sergeant Major wants the whole army to march in unison. Diversity should be welcomed, as it provides the opportunity for Australia’s universities to shape education in a way which allows them to add real value and deliver on their individual missions. Importantly, it also holds out the possibility of real choice for students. There is, however, one significant impediment to achieving this diversity---Government policy! While recent announcements by the Minister are encouraging, more still needs to be done. The reason there is little diversity in Australian degree structures is because of regulation. For instance, any university that tries to offer a true three semester structure quickly finds that it cannot offer fee-paying places in a summer semester unless they are also available as HECS places in one of the traditional semesters. Try and offer structures which allow students to opt in and out of study as they desire and one quickly finds that it may have an impact on apparent attrition rates which are only measured at limited census times. The resulting impact on Learning and Teaching Performance Fund outcomes would be most unwelcome. Many other examples could be mentioned. Deregulation of these issues may be more challenging than anticipated and which criteria the Minister may use to approve some of these and not others will be interesting. Assuming such issues can be addressed, what options may be possible for higher education