Before exploring this theme, I would first like to acknowledge the important role played by university colleges and halls in providing a home away from home for students from across Australia and abroad.

These students enjoy the unique benefits of residency—the communal life that’s synonymous with this style of accommodation, as well as the pastoral care, academic support and social, sporting and cultural opportunities provided.

They also enjoy the enriching experience of sharing their time at university with people from a multitude of cultural backgrounds and circumstances. Diversity in this sense adds a very special dimension to their university experience.

But I have been asked to address you today about diversity in the sense of institutional difference—what distinguishes our universities in terms of their mission, size, focus, philosophy, mode of delivery and student intake?

The Government believes diversity is very much a positive, enriching aspect of Australia’s higher education sector. As part of our higher education revolution we are committed to injecting further diversity and choice into the sector.

We know that in an intensely competitive global marketplace it is in our national interest and universities’ own interests that they determine their own response to market forces and how best to tailor their offerings to deliver the highest possible quality educational experience to students.

We know that our higher education sector is crucial to increasing national capacity in a global knowledge economy, building the skills and expertise of our workforce and contributing to our productivity and prosperity.

The election of the Rudd Government last November brought a great opportunity for policy and institutional renewal in the sector.

Ten months into the job, we have already made a great start.
As part of our higher education revolution we announced in the budget investment of around $1.8 billion in the higher education sector over five years.

We have established a new $11 billion Education Investment Fund. This is targeted at:

capital expenditure and
renewal and refurbishment in universities and vocational institutions as well as
in research facilities and major research institutions.

With $500 million in Better Universities Renewal Funding we are enabling institutions to undertake high priority capital projects to support improved teaching and learning, research, and students’ overall higher education experience.

We are addressing skills shortages in the critical areas of early childhood, maths and science teaching:

$53.9 million over four years will be provided to establish 500 new Commonwealth supported early childhood education places,

 $560 million will be provided over four years to encourage  students to study maths and science, and
over $63 million will be provided to reduce HECS repayments for maths and science graduates who take up related occupations such as teaching these subjects in secondary schools.

Beyond these proactive measures to address immediate needs the Government knows that a much longer term view is necessary.

To ensure the highest quality higher education sector into the future, no less than a system-wide rethink is required.
To this end, the Government has commissioned a major review of higher education to report on the future direction of the sector, its capacity to meet the needs of the Australian community and economy, and the options available for ongoing reform.

The Government has signalled its commitment to building diversity by asking the Review panel, as part of its terms of reference, to examine and advise on the creation of a diverse set of high performing, globally-focused institutions, each with its own clear, distinctive mission.

The Panel, chaired by Emeritus Professor Denise Bradley, is due to report to the Government in December, and I am sure its findings will be very valuable in guiding us in how best to enhance diversity across the sector in the future.

As you are aware, the sector here is already highly diverse. Today it comprises:

39 universities of which 37 are public institutions and 2 are private;
one Australian branch of an overseas university (Carnegie Mellon University);
three other self-accrediting higher education institutions (Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education, Melbourne College of Divinity and The Australian Film, Television and Radio School); and

more than 150 non-self-accrediting higher education providers accredited by state and territory authorities.

All these institutions have their own missions and ethos. And the Government encourages and supports this diversity and the opportunities it affords for students and the community more broadly.

In Australia today, higher education institutions vary in their size, sources of income, types of students, range of disciplines, participation of equity groups, history, as well as the focus and intensity of their research.

While each university has its own unique mission, many have come together under alliances or networks which enable them to build on their inherent synergies.

So the Australian Technology Network has been formed through an alliance of five universities: Curtin University, RMIT University, University of Technology Sydney, Queensland University of Technology and the University of South Australia. 

The network’s aim is to build strategic partnerships and undertaking solution-based research which is relevant to the expectations of industry and the community.

Another six universities – Flinders, Griffith, James Cook, La Trobe, Murdoch University and the University of Newcastle –have come together under the banner of Innovative Research Universities Australia.

And then we have the Group of Eight— the University of Sydney, the Australian National University, Monash University, University of Adelaide, University of New South Wales, University of Queensland, University of Western Australia and the University of Melbourne – who seek to be recognised internationally as leaders in higher education, research and community service

Smaller in scale but still highly successful, we also have a number of ‘unaligned’ regional universities such as Charles Sturt University  and Southern Cross University.

Another characteristic of increasing diversity is the easing of the once strict dividing line between universities and the VET sector.

Australia today has a number of dual sector universities delivering both vocational education and training (VET) and higher education awards. 

Dual sector universities, like RMIT University, Victoria University, Charles Darwin University, provide TAFE programs as well as undergraduate degree programs and have a number of well defined pathways in between.

There are also both public and private VET providers who offer access to bachelor degrees in addition to delivering VET awards as their core business. 

One predicted area of growth in higher education delivery is by public TAFE providers which may seek to teach higher education courses at degree level.

These TAFE providers are currently regarded as having the same status as other private providers for the purpose of their higher education delivery under the Higher Education Support Act 2003.

While government funding policies have traditionally directed public funding to the public sector, private providers have shared in the growth in the international and domestic student market. 

Two private universities have been established in Australia: Bond University in 1987 and the University of Notre Dame in 1990.

International providers are also coming into the market. The Carnegie Mellon University Heinz School, based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, established a campus in Adelaide in 2006 and provides graduate programs in public policy, information technology, and entertainment technology.  It is increasingly likely that other overseas universities will seek to establish a campus in Australia.

Today, thanks to the technological revolution, many higher education institutions are operating in a borderless world. 

For example, Open Universities Australia is owned by seven leading universities and is the country’s fastest growing online higher education service. 

More than 110 000 people have already studied through this provider since it began in 1993.  Students can study over 100 subject areas and graduate with qualifications from 15 academic providers including TAFE. 

Corporatisation is enabling specialisation and customisation to meet the particular skills needs of business and industry.

In overseas markets this has seen the establishment of corporate universities such as Motorola University and Toyota University.  While such entities have yet to start in Australia, there is a growing trend for Australian universities to develop partnerships with corporate entities. 

For example, DeakinPrime is the corporate arm of Deakin University and UNE Partnerships Pty Ltd is a registered training organisation of the University of New England.  Both entities provide professional training tailored to the needs of the corporate sector.

There is also a very diverse group of specialised, mainly private, higher education providers who are non-self-accrediting.

These providers range in size, may be registered in more than one state and territory and include theological colleges and other providers that offer courses in areas such as business, information technology, natural therapies, hospitality, health, law and accounting. 

Apart from universities, a number of institutions specialise in particular disciplines – like the National Institute of Dramatic Art, NIDA, or the Melbourne College of Divinity – or focus on supporting a specific community – like the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education.

The Australian Government believes that increasing diversity in higher education will provide greater choice for students and the outcomes needed to meet the diverse needs of employers, industry, business and the wider community. 

Minister Gillard has encouraged institutions to develop their own visions for their future and has indicated that the Australian Government will use available policy mechanisms to encourage diversity.

These include the Learning and Teaching Performance Fund, competitive research funding and the Diversity and Structural Adjustment Fund.

The Learning and Teaching Performance Fund uses comparable, nationally available data to measure the performance of universities against key indicators, including student satisfaction, graduate outcomes and student success. 

Performance is measured in four broad discipline groups:

Science, Computing, Engineering, Architecture and Agriculture
Business, Law and Economics
Humanities, Arts and Education, and
Health

Measuring performance in these areas allows universities to be recognised for their strengths— if a university has excellent outcomes in Health and the Sciences, for example, it will receive funding for its achievements in these areas. 

Additionally, the fund is not prescriptive about how universities must behave in order to achieve excellence in learning and teaching. 

From 2009, the fund will reward improvement as well as excellence in learning and teaching.  
Under the new model, universities will receive even greater encouragement to achieve good outcomes, because a portion of the funding will be allocated on the basis of assessing whether each university has improved its own performance over time, irrespective of the achievements of other universities.  An amount of $74 million is available for allocation in the next funding round.

And of course the Diversity and Structural Adjustment Fund which began on 1 January 2008 is a key plank of the Government’s push for diversity in the higher education sector. 

With $200 million allocated over the next three years, the fund’s aim is to encourage structural reform that supports greater specialisation among providers, more diversity in the higher education sector and better responsiveness to labour markets operating in the local or national interest. 

The Deputy Prime Minister will be announcing successful projects from the 2008 competitive round later this year.
Other initiatives that support greater diversity include the revised National Protocols for Higher Education Approval Processes, and providing access to FEE-HELP for some students in non-university higher education institutions.

The National Protocols for Higher Education Approval Processes provide a consistent basis for the establishment of higher education institutions across jurisdictions. 

However, the National Protocols also promote diversity in higher education by supporting the establishment of a number of different kinds of higher education institutions, including:

non self-accrediting institutions;
institutions other than universities with self-accrediting authority for some or all of their offerings, this could include institutions such as business colleges, theological institutions;

universities with various kinds of title and having wider or narrower scope of operation, including universities with a specialist title or university colleges; and

overseas institutions offering their awards in Australia.

Over time this is likely to create opportunities for greater diversity in the types of universities and other higher education institutions operating in Australia. 

Friends, as you can see from this brief overview, diversity is very much a part of the fabric of Australia’s higher education sector today, and it is something that the Australian Government is committed to promoting further in the future. 

We await the Bradley Review’s findings to guide our approach in this regard.
But one thing I can say right now is that we will continue to support institutions in building on their unique qualities and strengths, whether it is delivering large-scale undergraduate degree programs, graduate programs, innovative research, or meeting the needs of specific regional communities.

Building and constantly re-building the capacity of our universities, enhancing the strength of each institution’s identity and sense of purpose is therefore a critical goal for us all.

As a new government determined to move ahead in a new era of cooperation, we look forward to working with you and other stakeholders to achieve this goal.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you today.