University governing bodies need to observe the rules of engagement

CAPA embraces the twenty-eighth recommendation of the Senate Committee report, Universities in Crisis, that calls for full and proper disclosure and scrutiny for all proposals for commercial undertakings of universities.

"There have been some woeful decisions made by governing bodies over the last few years involving commercial ventures," said CAPA President John Byron today.

"Many of these enterprises have been approved by members of governing bodies who are in possession of little or no knowledge of all of the variables, risks and even costs," he argued.

"The colossal waste of public monies, the loss of valuable revenue and resultant diminution of educational activities, and the flagrant disregard for proper standards are all galling," he said.

However, it is often the hypocrisy of the supposed "expert managers' getting it so wrong that students find the most difficult aspect of it all to swallow.

"Universities have been quite active in ensuring that their student associations observe stringent accountability and probity standards, and rightly so," Mr Byron explained.

"Most student organisations have exemplary records on such matters, as it aids accountability to their members, and full reporting to university governing bodies is routine.

"At the same time, however, some university councils and senates have themselves been remiss in observing these same standards when it comes to commercial enterprises, which involve hundreds of times as much public money as student membership fees," continued Mr Byron.

"Ironically, it has often been the student members of these governing bodies that have been trying to call attention to possible compromises of proper standards, even as the university is talking tough about their student organisations."

The solution lies partly in ending the university funding crisis, that the Howard government refuses to acknowledge, despite overwhelming evidence of the extensive damage being done.

"The restoration of adequate operating funds to universities - stripped from them to a crippling extent under the rapacious policies of the Coalition government - will go a long way to relieving the absurd pressures that result in such compromises," he observed.

"It is clear, though, that specific regulatory measures need to be introduced to assist university governing bodies - often comprised of business neophytes - to observe their legal and civic responsibilities," Mr Byron concluded.