Quality concerns throughout higher education sector

"The current furore over the reduction in standards for undergraduate students is only the tip of the iceberg," said CAPA President John Byron today.

"Recent research conducted by CAPA and published in Australian Universities' Review last year (1) demonstrates that postgraduate coursework education has suffered some serious quality compromises since it was fully deregulated in 1994."

Debate was initiated when The Australia Institute foreshadowed the release of a report on declining standards in Australian higher education. It was reported that the report will include allegations of 'soft marking' of fee-paying students.

"These and other compromises are predictable and inevitable outcomes of the massive disinvestment in higher education that Australia has endured over the last decade or more," said Mr Byron.

Mr Byron expressed concern that the problem is significantly more advanced than it currently appears.

"Many good academics and students are leaving the Australian education system, perceiving it to be corrupting itself fundamentally through the erosion of its standards.

"The loss to Australian universities of this talent inevitably tightens the spiral of degrading quality still more.

"The Government, the Vice-Chancellors and the Opposition need to do more than flatly deny the widespread reports or to call for inquiries," said Mr Byron.

"Nothing short of a commitment to reinvest in Australia's future through suitable public funding of education and research will restore sector and public confidence in the health of our university system."

Bradley Smith and Mark Frankland, 'Marketisation and the new quality agenda: postgraduate coursework at the crossroads,' AUR 43:2, 2000, pp. 7-16.