American Universities have been hurting from the global financial crisis. Now apparently Australian universities are hitting tough times too: top universities bleeding millions. The fact that they are ‘public sector’ didn’t insulate them after all.
The crash of the universities’ financial reserves, which will reduce their ability to fund building projects, scholarships and research, will add pressure on the federal Government to boost funding in next week’s budget to the cash-strapped sector.
The universities’ argument is basically “we’re too important. Don’t let us suffer!”
But decades of that kind of thinking has led to the universities becoming bloated and inefficient. Some shocks reverberating through the system might initiate reform, or at least trimming some of the fat. If that’s not allowed to happen, the only reform to this industry can come from government “white papers” produced by bureaucrats – in other words, top-down command economics.
Part of the problem comes from the widespread belief that tertiary education is not really an “industry” but more a kind of utility, like roads and police and courthouses. Cut funding, and you’re cutting off our children’s future, goes the thinking. This is the same mentality that gave us the policy of producing as many degrees as possible, which resulted in professions that previously needed no degree (such as nursing, journalism, and marketing) now either officially or unofficially requiring tertiary qualifications with no discernable public gain.
So, maybe some financial pain will give us a leaner, meaner tertiary sector.
Hardship can be a great educator.