Australia: Intensifying performance and learner-centredness in Australian higher education

In March 2008, the Australian Government initiated a Review of Higher Education (Bradley 2008) to examine the future direction of the higher education sector, its fitness for purpose in meeting the needs of the Australian community and economy, and the options for ongoing reform. The Review was conducted by an independent expert panel, led by Emeritus Professor Denise Bradley, and the ‘Bradley Report’ (2008), as it has become known, made some significant claims for the nation’s efforts to increase participation in the sector, in an era of shrinking governmental resourcing. Most boldly: Australia is losing ground. Within the OECD we are now 9th out of 30 in the proportion of our population aged 25 to 34 years with such qualifications, down from 7th a decade ago. Twenty nine per cent of our 25-to 34-year-olds have degree-level qualifications