Clarifying higher education for all

Australian higher education in 2020: what do we want? What issues should be traversed by someone who is 10 or 30 years old today when considering whether to participate? Proposals in the May 2014 Federal Budget sharpen the mind. But almost irrespective of how current machinations play out, greater transparency will be required to guide peoples’ thinking on key issues.

First, is there value in participating in higher education? Most families would already have a reasonably good idea about whether a 10-year-old is likely to attend university. National survey findings indicate that with most school-leaver entrants this big decision happens around late primary school. We don’t understand this decision process well – too little research has been done in Australia – though we know it blends a complex tapestry of social, personal and financial considerations. 

Financial factors will be weighed more in future. Decisions by the 30-year-old are equally as complex, though inflected also by vocational deliberations. For Australia to build the professional workforce of the future we must understand this early decision-making process and help people and their families get it right – a task which has become more difficult in times which are confusing even for politicians and institutions.

What to study? After deciding to venture into higher education this is the second most substantial choice people could make. It is also the most complex. Taken simply, any first degree (or the pathway into one) would help set the course for an entry-level professional job, further vocational study, or a research degree. 

But simple is rare, and invariably myriad personal, professional and social factors shape reflection. Should people work backwards from the presumed status of target professions, or forwards from detailed analysis of potential pathways to desired future prospects? 

To help people decide what to study higher education must become unrecognisably more transparent, even in Australia, which has one of the most open systems of all. With greater shifts towards a buyers’ market, a range of consumer advisory services will likely proliferate. In essence, these new types of services should make clear what people can expect from higher education, and what someone like them is likely to get out of it.

Where to study? Australians in metropolitan areas have traditionally studied a car-ride from home, though this will likely change as institutions compete more fiercely for prospective domestic students. Is it really important to go to a ‘university’ (as opposed to a ‘non university’ provider)? The answer depends on the field of study and on the student’s desired outcomes. 

The course’s quality and status in the eyes of an industry and the student also matter. In future, consideration may also be given as to whether it is feasible to move residence to boost chances of admission or a scholarship. Hitherto a feature of secondary education in Australia, such resettling is likely to become more prominent if policy proposals are implemented given the use of location-based indices to calculate individual circumstances and entitlements. 

Is higher education affordable? Invariably, higher education in 2020 will be more expensive that it is today. This is partly because it will cost more to do higher education (efficiency improvements aside, like many service industries, higher education suffers from what economists call the ‘cost disease’). 

But for the most part a higher degree will be more expensive because it will be more valuable – the passport to a global professional career. There are trade-offs from deferring work for several years, and then there is the need to fund interim living and study costs. Participation decisions in Australia have been shaped so far by non-financial factors, though this may change with any marked inflation in price, nuancing calculations of return on debt. 

New debt providers are likely to emerge, potentially even institutions themselves. Has Australia’s income-contingent government loan scheme been stretched to its limits, or can it be expanded? People will want to know what prices reflect – delivery costs, quality, services, commerce constraints, or future prospects? Acting rationally, Australians will need to ask if higher education is worth the cost, time and effort. They will seek information on the total upfront costs of study, the likely income required to service debt repayments, and the overall return on investment.

How much higher education is needed? The qualifications of board members of our major companies affirm that decades ago a bachelor degree could set up a professional life. It still can, of course, but it is very likely that ongoing education will be required across the career. Certain professions make clear what study is required to start work, but many people rightly pursue degrees that have indirect and complex links with yet-to-be-identified jobs. This is a knotty matter, for trading higher education (which is a transformative and prospective experience) is tricky business. Care will be required to ensure that people are not ‘sold’ higher education that they do not really want or need.

Is the study good quality? Outside the industry, and even largely within it, there is little if any evidence of a market in ‘higher education quality’. Regrettably, what the research shows counts for quality differs from the most widely publicised markers of status and prestige. For instance, global research-based rankings have little link with much teaching. Australia sits atop the world in disseminating information on university resources and environments, though there remain areas for improvement. Yet today, other than knowing an institution or program has been accredited by the relevant authority, there is little to affirm that graduates have acquired the capabilities espoused by their degree programs. For the most part this might reasonably be assumed, but this is not always the case, and even so more evidence would be helpful. Over the next half-dozen years can Australia do more to bridge the chasm between sectoral and public perspectives on quality?

What experience is expected? Higher education in Australia already has an older student profile than in many countries. Increasingly, not least because workers will upskill via newly funded diploma-level and associate-degree courses, the student mix will age further. Whether it will by truly diverse from a socioeconomic perspective hinges on the success of any equity scholarship arrangements. The last few decades have seen Australia thrive from exporting higher education, but by 2020 our students may seek to travel overseas. Major foreign universities may be cheaper, closer to the world’s alpha cities, and offer foreign-language study to boot. People entering the system in 2020 will seek clear information and assurances about the experiences and services they are paying for.

Among benchmark countries, Australia has a very transparent higher education system but it remains very hard to understand – even for experts. With higher education becoming more important to Australians, now is the time for substantial research into how people can – and should – go about understanding and navigating the system. Australian universities must therefore consider how best to provide advice on whether people should participate in higher education, what and where they should study, whether higher education is affordable and of quality, how much is needed, and what experience and services are required to meet student needs and demands? 

Watch a video of the first of this year’s Higher Education Policy Seminars on University Financing with Professor Mark Chapman, Deakin VC Professor Jane den Hollander and Emeritus Professor Steven Schwartz at: