Universities must bridge the gap between reform scope and outcome. It is too important to fail.
Universities,mine included,are ramping up their focus in anticipation of the reforms,and to arrest the national equity slide. Some of the worst performers on equity participation – the University of Sydney,Macquarie,UNSW and UTS,all with equity participation rates less than half the national average – are making among the boldest moves.
The University of Sydney and UNSW have launched large-scale scholarships designed to boost their enrolment of disadvantaged students. These schemes will undoubtedly help lift lagging numbers. In Sydney’s case,the equity measures come on the heels of rolling budget surpluses and a very strong return in international student fee revenue.
But taking disadvantaged,rural and wider equity students out of their communities and into the relatively wealthy areas of large city-based campuses is not without challenges. Isolation is a common experience,and a significant barrier to degree completion. Equally,it can perpetuate the sentiment held by many disadvantaged communities that university education is something that happens outside their locale. As Clare implied,something not for them.
Universities are civic institutions. They must be part of their communities. Not remote. They must do with,not for. That is the only way the coming equity reforms can succeed.
Loading
Universities must be prepared to be shaped by,as well as shape,the experience of the cohort of students they seek to grow. Accelerating equity programs and boosting scholarships alone won’t do. Universities need to genuinely collaborate with the communities their new students are a part of.
Whitlam’s reforms proved as revolutionary as they were unsustainable. The perhaps inevitable introduction of income-contingent loans ended the free ride,but not before a generation of Australians had their horizons thoroughly expanded through university education. They are the beneficiaries and,in many cases,left the structural legacy that will guide the success or failure of the next wave of reforms.
The barriers to the bold equity targets of the coming reforms are substantial. Success can only come if universities truly challenge their existing structural assumptions.
Theresilience that areas such as Bankstown,Blacktown,Fairfield,Liverpool and Penrith displayed during the – at times – inequitable pandemic public health measures,proves how much they can teach universities about community,connection and cohesion. If,of course,universities are prepared to learn.
Andy Marks is the executive director of the Centre for Western Sydney and a pro vice-chancellor at Western Sydney University.
Get a weekly wrap of views that will challenge,champion and inform your own.Sign up for our Opinion newsletter.