Public partnership needed to promote academic freedom
16 March 2001
The National Tertiary Education Union, representing staff in Australian universities, today welcomed the publication of the Australia Institute’s Discussion Paper, `Academic Freedom and Commercialisation of Australian Universities’. The Union said that a public partnership between Government, institutions, staff and students was required to explore the scope of the problem and develop solutions.
NTEU President Dr Carolyn Allport said that there were two key aspects to the findings: firstly, it reinforced the Union’s perceptions that reliance on commercial income was compromising the capacity of academic staff to teach, research and publish independently; and secondly that academic freedom was essential to quality higher education.
`Academic freedom is not simply an individual’s right – it’s a public good,’ said Dr Allport. `It’s clear from these findings that respondents view the capacity to undertake independent teaching and research and engage in academic debate without fear of retribution from employers or funding agencies as essential to a quality learning environment.‘
`If staff don’t have that independence, then students miss out. The range of learning experiences are narrowed, their exposure to critical thinking is limited and the knowledge base is diminished. If the independence of research is compromised, then so are its findings and ultimately so is its value to society.’
Dr Allport said that the fact that 73% of respondents felt that academic freedom had deteriorated over the past four years, and that the majority of these related these changes to increasing commercialisation, illustrated the dangers of replacing government investment with private funding.
`Over the same period, the balance of funding has shifted, so that universities receive less than 50% of their funding from the Commonwealth. The rest comes from student contributions through the HECS scheme, and commercial activity. The fastest growing area of institutional revenue is student fees.’
`Universities are increasingly putting the dash for cash ahead of independence and quality,’ she said. `As public funding for higher education reduces, so does the public stake. Government has to take responsibility for turning this around, through increasing public investment and working with universities and their staff to restore public confidence.’
`In New Zealand, universities are defined in legislation as `having the role of critic and conscience of society’. The time has come for us to have a debate in Australia about what the role of our universities should be and take appropriate action to defend it, instead of allowing market forces to wreak havoc.‘