Obiter dicta by Professor Gavin Brown AO

Open to all

19 September 2003

I was particularly pleased that, at our recent Courses and Careers Day, several of the students receiving certificates of attainment for our one-unit Higher School Certificate courses and a great many of those exploring the possibility of study next year at the University of Sydney, came from schools in the Western Suburbs.

One of the potentially unfortunate consequences of the current focus on regional provision is the development of a local mind-set wherein one thinks automatically of the nearest university as the place where one ought to enrol. Yet I make no apology for striving to make this University the aspirational first choice for all students in the State.

To some extent this is already true, for we have the highest share of first preferences and that percentage continues to grow. Indeed, wherever you slice the HSC candidature, the majority of students above that level have chosen the University of Sydney. I am concerned, however, that our cut-off entry scores are being forced ever higher, typically well above the basic level of attainment which we regard as a pre-requisite for the course. This, of course, is because we have only a limited number of government funded places and must ration these severely.

Next year we will be obliged to wind back much of the over-enrolment to avoid new financial penalties. This over-enrolment comes from a pipe-line effect from increasing numbers at a time several years ago when we were fined heavily for having undershot targets. This will make it harder to gain entry to the University of Sydney in light of the great pressure of demand.

The Federal Government does intend to replace the places in the system which currently correspond to over-enrolment and, indeed, will provide fully-funded places whereas at present these receive only marginal funding. The rub is that the places will be re-allocated after discussions with the State Governments and currently the NSW Department of Education is arguing that these should be provided outside the major metropolitan universities.

I have some sympathy for the University of Western Sydney which is currently over-funded and will lose some of that money in the future. That university moved load from high cost areas such as agriculture to lower cost disciplines such as business. The problem is that this was done in negotiation with the federal department with no diminution of operating grant, creating an advantage relative to other Universities like my own.

I can understand that UWS feels that it should not be penalised for an agreed strategy, while, of course, the rest of us do not want an artificial subsidy to be continued forever. A tempting solution for both governments is to provide extra taxpayer funded load. The problem is that the effective transfer of funds will force institutions like the University of Sydney further towards the private end of the spectrum.

Although not everyone believes me, I am fiercely committed to this University remaining the flagship public university in New South Wales, but it seems that we will not learn the results of the re-allocation process until June, 2004. We are obliged to plan on a much more business-like basis.