Attachment: CAPA Paper
The Federal Minister for Science, Peter McGauran, has released an issues paper, Developing National Research Priorities, calling for public involvement in the setting of future national research priorities. The paper was launched on 22 May 2002 and can be downloaded at . The paper responds to the outcry at the lack of consultation involved in setting research priority areas for the 2003 Australian Research Council (ARC) funding round by inviting public consultation on the Government’s proposed framework for establishing national research priorities and suggestions for what those priorities should be. Written submissions on the framework are due on 28 June 2002, while nominations for research priorities must be received by 9 August 2002.
Attachment: CAPA Paper
On 26 April 2002, the Minister for Education, Brendan Nelson, released the overview paper Higher Education at the Crossroads, to initiate debate on higher education reform. An electronic copy of this paper is available at http://www.dest.gov.au/crossroads. The Minister will also release a series of discussion papers focusing on specific issues throughout the year. Submissions are invited on the issues raised by all papers. The Minister has stated that submissions will be used by his Higher Education Review Reference Group to create a package of reforms. These will be presented to Cabinet by the beginning of 2003, in time for implementation in the 2003-2004 Federal Budget.
This reform process could potentially change the Australian higher education system as dramatically as the Dawkins reforms. Higher Education at the Crossroads questions the very idea of a university and proposes a range of policy options that could dismantle the Unified National System. Reform options canvassed in the paper could result in the concentration of research in a small number of Australian universities, the extension of deregulated fees to undergraduate places, and the creation of an alternative shorter, cheaper degree structure for equity groups. The Higher Education Review Reference Group is dominated by senior university management and representatives of the business community, and lacks any student representation.
For these reasons it is important for Postgraduate Student Associations (PSAs) to take the opportunity to present their views on higher education in Australia by making a submission to the review before the deadline of 28 June 2002. As the national peak body for postgraduate students, CAPA will be making a detailed submission to the review, but it is also important that as many student voices as possible are heard during the review process. An outline of the CAPA submission will be distributed to all PSAs for their information by the end of May. Any PSA requiring information or other help for their submission is most welcome to contact the CAPA Office on 9650 7666 or to email the CAPA Research Officer at Hilary.Pearse@capa.edu.au.
A summary of Higher Education at the Crossroads and a discussion of points of interest for postgraduate students is provided below to assist PSAs with their submissions. Please note that Higher Education at the Crossroads is structured in five chapters, with the substantive content of the paper being found in the fourth chapter, ‘A framework for consultation’. This chapter is divided into nine sections, each of which focuses on one broad higher eduction issue, with consultative questions provided at the end of each section. Submissions may respond to the consultative questions but are also free to address issues not covered in the paper.
Attachment: CAPA Paper
Lynne Kosky, Victorian Minister for Education and Training (then Minister for Post-Compulsory Education) called a Review of University Governance for Victorian universities on December 4th 2001. The call for a review came after the Auditor General for Victoria raised concerns about university commercial ventures; after sustained criticism of University of Melbourne businesses in various newspapers and on television; and after questions about governance issues and commercialisation in some Victorian universities (especially Melbourne) were raised by the 2001 Senate Inquiry into Higher Education.
The review committee, headed by Stuart Hamilton (Secretary, DEET Victoria) included three Vice Chancellors, the CEO of the Australian Government Employees Superannuation trust, Professor Simon Marginson and Ms Fran Thorn (Deputy Secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet).
Attachment: CAPA Paper
The title of the Report of the 2001 Senate Inquiry into Higher Education says it all – Universities in Crisis. The shock-waves of the funding cuts imposed by successive Federal governments still reverberate through the sector, and there seems little light on the horizon. In this climate, it is students who don’t fit traditional stereotypes (young, fit, financially secure), who require extra human and financial resources, who suffer most. Students with disabilities, along with members of other equity groups (such as Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders, students from low SES backgrounds, women, and NESB students), often find that the higher education sector can be a less than welcoming place. Large classes, a lack of resources, and spiralling staff-student ratios, impact particularly on members of these groups.
However, the situation is not completely bleak. Since the release of the Federal policy document A Fair Chance for All: Higher Education that’s within Everyone’s Reach in 1990, and the passing of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) in 1992, the sector has been making (in certain areas) a concerted effort to raise the participation rate of students with a disability. Disconcertingly, however, postgraduate students with a disability remain largely invisible – to both public and university policy makers.
The postgraduate experience of university study is different to that of undergraduates. Recognition by institutions and by DEST of the special needs of research students, and a growing awareness of the needs of postgraduate coursework students, is heartening, but is too often based on generalisations which exclude ‘non-traditional’ student groups.
This document seeks to provide an awareness of some of the general issues facing students with disabilities studying at university level, as well as to begin to uncover some of the particular issues facing postgraduates with a disability.
The paper is designed to assist postgraduate student associations (PSA’s) to better understand the needs of members with disabilities, as well as the legislative and policy environment for disability issues. Where possible, suggestions for lobbying at an institutional or government level have been provided.
