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<br><B>
<BLOCKQUOTE>INTRODUCTION</B> </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>The Australian Council of Professions comprises the national bodies of most of the major professions and the NSW Council of Professions. It has branches in a number of other States and Territories. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>In its concern for the principles of professionalism and the vital role the professions have in contributing to future change, the Council believes that its views are also relevant to those professions and professional bodies not presently members of the Council. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>The Council is particularly concerned that the key attribute of independent service delivered with high professional skill to communities and to individual users of professional services must continue, in order to ensure that professionals will contribute in the most effective manner to the goals of community growth with equity, to wealth creation, to environmental sustainability and to international competitiveness. It is therefore vitally concerned with the education of the professional, with the quality of professional education and with the place of professional education in the higher education system. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>The Australian Council of Professions acknowledges the role of the University as the principal guardian and repository for knowledge in present day society. The tasks of recording, nurturing, transmitting and extending knowledge independent from commercial or sectoral influence is critical to a free and fair society. The graduates of universities take into the community qualities and values resulting from the education they have received and from the opportunity they have had to develop not only knowledge and skills relevant to a work task they will take up in their communities but also a broad comprehension of cultural and societal qualities and values. The professions are concerned with the quality of education for the professions in a vocational sense but also for the broad education of professionals as members of society. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>While individual member organisations of the Council have expressed views to the Committee on their particular profession, there are matters on which the Council wishes to comment which are common to all the professions in relation to the future of higher education over the next 20 to 25 years and in the guiding principles governing the direction it will take. </BLOCKQUOTE><B><I>
<BLOCKQUOTE>Theme 1</B></I> </BLOCKQUOTE><B><FONT color=#ff0000>
<BLOCKQUOTE ALIGN="CENTER">THE FUTURE ROLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN AUSTRALIA'S SOCIETY AND ECONOMY</BLOCKQUOTE></B></FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE>Most of the professions have established relationships with the faculties in universities teaching their particular disciplines. That relationship takes many forms including the accreditation of courses, the membership of course advisory committees, part-time teaching by practising professionals and partnership in research activities. The professions believe it is essential that there should continue to be a close partnership between the practitioners of the professional disciplines and the teachers of the disciplines. The resulting interchange should ensure that the teaching maintains contact with the realities of practice and that practice benefits from the research and critical study of the profession undertaken by the University. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>While it is important that, by the process of interaction, vocational aims of professional courses are understood and met there should not be allowed to develop a system driven solely by the vocational needs of particular callings or disciplines. The members of professions must be broadly educated to be able to see beyond professional boundaries and to contribute in the widest sense to the making of better and fairer communities while responding to the social, technological, environmental and economic changes and challenges of the present and future world. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>The role of higher education in relation to the professions then, is not only to ensure that professional performance is maintained and improved in order to contribute particular professional skills to society, but also to ensure that each professional is well educated in the broad sense of understanding and contributing to society's aims and values. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>The professions are acutely aware of the rapidly changing nature of work tasks and the need to update knowledge, and indeed to broaden knowledge. This means that initial courses must be followed by postgraduate courses and courses providing continuous professional development. While some of these courses are, and will continue to be, provided by professional organisations there will also be increasing demands on universities in the offering of discrete courses, in partnerships with professional organisations, or in the provision of work place learning, including by different modes of distance learning, many involving information technology. It is important to ensure that quality is maintained when courses are offered in a wide range of different modes. This will require the maintenance of particular quality systems by the universities, with the close collaboration of the professional organisations. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>Changes in the nature of work are demanding and will continue to demand an increasingly well educated work force so that it can be assumed that the higher education contribution to society and the economy will grow. There is evidence of increasing emphasis on higher education by governments in the United States, Britain, other European countries and many of our near neighbours including Singapore, Malaysia, Korea, Hong Kong and Thailand. There have been statements of commitment to higher education in national strategy documents and national plans such as Singapore Unlimited and Malaysia Vision 2020. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>There is need for a strong statement of belief in, and commitment to, the place of education and especially higher education as a first priority for the Australian Government, as indeed other countries have done. There is increasing international competition in higher education and it is of critical importance that we in this country do not fall behind. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>The Council recommends that the Government make a strong policy statement acknowledging the importance of higher education as a matter of top priority stating explicit Government goals for higher education and indicating its importance in the economy. The Government should also pledge appropriate support to ensure that the higher education system is not further disrupted by funding reductions. </BLOCKQUOTE><B><I>
<BLOCKQUOTE>Theme 2</B></I> </BLOCKQUOTE><B><FONT color=#ff0000>
<BLOCKQUOTE ALIGN="CENTER">FACTORS AFFECTING DEMAND FOR AND PROVISION OF HIGHER EDUCATION</BLOCKQUOTE></B></FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE>The Council is well aware of the opportunities now available through information technology of the supply of courses by distance learning modes. It is also aware of possibilities, some already in place, of the availability of high quality multi media courses on the internet originating from particular universities or from external commercial services. While it acknowledges the importance of these developments it is also concerned that they should not be seen primarily as a means of making economies in the supply of higher education. Indeed they may involve greater cost to education due to the investment necessary in information technology, the cost of the preparation and continuous upgrading of such courses and the maintenance of quality systems across a diverse range of sources of courses. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>The adoption of the widespread use of such methods must also be accompanied by opportunities for the essential interaction between teaching staff and students which is central to a healthy education system. The use of courses available electronically, allied to small group teaching and individual tuition, produces greater interaction with greater educational benefits than are available with large class teaching. So far as professional education is concerned it must be stressed that the practice component demands personal contact and exchange between students and teaching staff of a kind which cannot be conveyed by electronic means. The new developments in technology should be welcomed and seen as making positive contributions to higher education including professional education but not be seen as a means of making economies in educational budgets. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>The professions generally are involved in international exchange, in the increasing provision of professional services to other countries on a world wide basis, in the movement of individual professionals from country to country, in the membership of international professional organisations and in the recognition of educational and practice standards from country to country. This exchange can be expected to increase considerably in the future. There are implications for professional education: to facilitate the exchanges which take place for staff and students of universities, including the exchange of knowledge about local professional systems and practice and the encouragement of teaching of the language and culture of the countries with which we interact. There is also the need to ensure that barriers to the movement of students and staff are not erected and that funds are available to facilitate the flow of people and consequently of ideas. While this interaction varies in extent from profession to profession it can be expected that it will grow at a rapid rate in the future. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>In a number of professions the changing nature and increasing complexity of the profession is leading to the need for the subdivision of professional tasks. This may lead to the establishment of new university courses. Where contemplated such courses should always be developed with the full involvement of the relevant professional organisation. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>The need for greater attention to so-called life long learning has been a constant call in many reports and statements. There can be no greater need than in the professions and the role of the higher education sector in providing courses which keep professional knowledge up to date and in retraining, as some work tasks either change or are eliminated, will be essential. This will mean that there will be an increasing number of students of a mature age and the need in some situations for consideration of financial support for them while undergoing courses. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>Comment has already been made on the changing nature of work and the effect this is likely to have on the need for a better educated and more highly skilled workforce. This is important in relation to future demand for higher education and for greater numbers of graduates. So far as the professions are concerned the need for additional numbers will vary from profession to profession, indeed present professional boundaries may well have to be reconsidered which will affect numbers. There is need for careful analysis of changing roles. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>The professions generally are alert to the need for flexibility and diversity and for attracting into the professions entrants who will be high achievers. A number of professions are taking particular measures to inform students at secondary and at primary level, of the nature of their profession, the particular challenges and prospects it offers and the educational background appropriate to entry into professional courses. This is in part in anticipation of the expanding need for entrants in some professions, and of the need to attract the best entrants into professional areas of such importance to the development of the nation. </BLOCKQUOTE><B><I>
<BLOCKQUOTE>Theme 3</B></I> </BLOCKQUOTE><B><FONT color=#ff0000>
<BLOCKQUOTE ALIGN="CENTER">THE REGULATORY AND ADMINISTRATIVE FRAMEWORK FOR HIGHER EDUCATION</BLOCKQUOTE></B></FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE>The role of the professions in regulatory and administrative frameworks is an important one but one in which a careful balance must be struck. The professional bodies are sometimes seen as exerting too great a pressure on the freedom of the universities to develop professional courses as they see fit. The professions are concerned that professional courses will achieve high standards and will provide graduates with the knowledge and skills necessary to enable them properly to fulfil their professional tasks in the community. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>The relationship between the teaching of the theory and the teaching of the practice of a profession varies from profession to profession. In some professions additional practice experience and the examination of practice knowledge is conducted after the basic professional degree has been gained. In others it is expected that the graduate will be able to enter practice immediately. From the viewpoint of the professions the essential characteristic is that there should be a partnership and agreement between the profession and the University on ways in which professional practice needs are dealt with in courses. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>The professions respect and value the independence of universities, especially they recognise that innovation and new research affecting each profession is generated in the university professional schools and that these benefits are unlikely to come when there is restrictive regulation. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>The professions, either through the recognised professional organisations, or through registration authorities where they exist, wish to continue a dialogue with universities. They also believe that it is important that any frameworks which are set up will continue the active professional involvement with universities, including by such means as advisory boards, the engagement of professionals as part-time members of staff and the acceptance by universities of visiting panels for professional accreditation of courses. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>Concerning the role of government, the professions believe that there should not be excessive monitoring by government of quality measured by performance outcomes since this could lead to uniformity whereas diversity of approach should be encouraged. Government instrumentalities monitoring quality in universities should require from universities broad indications of their strategic plans to ensure that developments are not inconsistent with national aims. They should then ensure that there are policies and processes in place which will encourage continuous quality improvements and monitor processes rather than asking for comprehensive details of performance outcomes. </BLOCKQUOTE><B><I>
<BLOCKQUOTE>Theme 4</B></I> </BLOCKQUOTE><B><FONT color=#ff0000>
<BLOCKQUOTE ALIGN="CENTER">FINANCING HIGHER EDUCATION TEACHING AND RESEARCH TRAINING</BLOCKQUOTE></B></FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE>In a society increasingly dependent on technological development the level of education must rise to provide the skills necessary to sustain the development. It is reasonable to accept that public funding should provide for the basic educational level to enable the graduate to operate in the work force. Clearly that does not take place at the present time and increasingly universities have to seek additional funding not only to finance their research and public benefit activities - but also their basic teaching and research tasks. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>This involves the universities in commercial activities, in attracting money from industry, in enrolling overseas fee paying students and in seeking other external sources of funds including gifts, sponsorship, naming rights, bequests. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>While some of these sources have always existed, the amount of additional funds now necessary to enable universities to survive means that they must accelerate their efforts in these directions. There are consequences for the availability of resources of funds and of resources of academic, administrative and support staff of universities which are not always properly recognised. The time which must now be directed to these activities inevitably reduces the time available for the essential university tasks of teaching and research, to the point where some staff have to spend considerable amounts of time, even the majority of their time, seeking external funds in a community climate where there is increasing competition for money and decreasing availability. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>Funding for education should have a higher priority in the provision of public funding to ensure that there is a proper balance and not a continued deterioration in funding levels with unfortunate consequences for higher education generally. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>There are differing views of the present HECS scheme by the various professions but there is general agreement that the present system of a differentiated scale related to course costs and anticipated ultimate financial benefit to graduates is unsatisfactory. It does not take into account the wide range of remuneration rewards received by practitioners in the various professions and callings and penalises those practitioners who choose to work in locations or on work tasks where they are providing a community benefit but where the remuneration earned is low. It may in the long run also affect decisions about entry into some courses, such as science and engineering, although it is accepted that the evidence so far is inconclusive. The HECS System generally is supported but its detailed application should be reconsidered. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>The recent proposal for the introduction of full fee paying local students under certain conditions is not supported primarily because of its divisive impact. It has been criticised on the grounds of equity as favouring the rich as opposed to the poor. The divisions it has already brought about between and within universities and the unprecedented and unfortunate protests it has provoked suggest that any future measures to increase the amounts to be paid by students for their education should be across the board and not implemented in ways which create divisions. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>The professions in contact with the professional schools in universities are aware of the impact of funding shortages on the supply of professional education. One unfortunate aspect is of particular concern and that is the reduction which takes place in the employment of part-time teaching staff from professional practice since this area is often an early casualty in cost cutting, which reduces opportunities to increase course relevance. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>Members of the professions are aware of the support being given to the growth of tertiary education systems by those countries presently providing the sources of full fee paying students to this country. It is important therefore to be cautious about projections into the future for increases in the funding of universities from full fee paying overseas students. It is also important to insist that in the provision of courses in which those students participate standards must not be allowed to drop. If this were to take place there would be an inevitable adverse reflection on the reputation of Australian professional and other degrees. </BLOCKQUOTE><B><I>
<BLOCKQUOTE>Theme 5</B></I> </BLOCKQUOTE><B><FONT color=#ff0000>
<BLOCKQUOTE ALIGN="CENTER">FUNDING OF HIGHER EDUCATION RESEARCH</BLOCKQUOTE></B></FONT>
<BLOCKQUOTE>The Council is concerned that the research facilities of Australian universities are being eroded and that they are unable to take sufficient advantage of the rapid changes in technology to update research infrastructure. In many cases this means that the universities are using outdated equipment, inconsistent with the equipment used in the equivalent industry and commerce organisations which they serve. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>Public funding for research must not be eroded further and incentives must be given to industry for some greater support to university research. Indeed there must in general be greater encouragement to industry to engage in research and development. The decision to reduce the taxation concession for industry research and development from 150 % to 125% had the unfortunate effect of sending the wrong signal to industry. That decision should be reconsidered and further means found of giving greater incentive to take part in the essential role of building industry support to maintain the nation's international competitiveness. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>The refinement and further development of Cooperative Research Centres in which industry and universities cooperate is important for some professions and will help to ensure greater industry/university interaction. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>A number of professions are especially concerned at the reduction from 22 to 4 of the categories of research publications in arriving at the Research Quantum. Some of the categories now excluded are directly relevant to the concerns of the professions and to the aim of ensuring that research is encouraged which is important to the development of industry and professional performance. The areas which are now excluded encompass applied research, social benefits research and research in areas of creative work, for example architecture and multimedia. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>There should be a more creative and flexible understanding of research which is of importance to the changing and evolving communities of the future. This does not mean that there should be any less support for basic research which underpins all knowledge but that we should also be encouraging research which develops greater interaction between universities and industry and commerce. </BLOCKQUOTE><B>
<BLOCKQUOTE>CONCLUSION</B> </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>Education generally and higher education in particular must be seen as having the first priority for public funding if this country is to develop and maintain the skills necessary to remain internationally competitive and forge a strong role in its interaction with the emerging economies of Asia. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>Education is the foundation for all that we achieve as a nation and it must not be short changed. </BLOCKQUOTE>
<BLOCKQUOTE>Confidence must be built up between Higher Education and Government and Higher Education and industry and commerce so that the contribution made by higher education is well directed, understood, appreciated, properly acknowledged and adequately funded. </BLOCKQUOTE><FONT size=2>
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