Marketisation and the new quality agenda - postgraduate coursework at the crossroads

Deregulation and competitive market conditions are held by the Minister, Dr Kemp, and some vice-chancellors and commentators, as the only viable policy for addressing the acute resourcing difficulties of Australian universities. The
core of the deregulationist argument in respect of students is that higher education confers a significant private
benefit. Thus, students should ‘invest’ in their access to future wealth.

The consequences of marketisation on postgraduate coursework are a salutary reminder of the limitations of
deregulation. The ‘market’ emerged as the primary organisational principle in postgraduate coursework education
between 1989 and 1994 under the ALP. Intensified marketisation nder the Coalition in the form of the cutting of
the bulk of funded places has served to further reduce quity of access and to further undermine the efficacy of
both internal quality control measures and the normative etting of educational standards.

In this environment, external quality control measures such as the Australian Universities Quality Agency (AQUA)
and the National Protocol for: The Recognition of Universities, The Accreditation of Courses Offered by Non-University
Providers, and the Operations of Overseas Higher ducation Providers in Australia (The National Protocol),
are required if students’ consumer rights are to be protected.  However, even if the latter is achieved, and this is by no means certain, it will do nothing to address equity of access and other national interest considerations.